Valley Wide Help Program Transforms
into Pennsylvania's 2-1-1 System Effective
Jan. 2, 2012
News Release: December 15, 2011
Contact: Janice Osborne, Regional Communication Officer
American Red Cross of the Greater Lehigh Valley
(610) 865-4400, ext. 262; pager (610) 830-9771


Effective Jan 2, 2012, Valley Wide Help, an information and referral program of the American Red Cross of the Greater Lehigh Valley, will become a part of the statewide 2-1-1 program led by United Way of Pennsylvania. Valley Wide Help calls will be handled by United Way of Lancaster County's LINC Information and Referral Service (I&R), a regional call center.

2-1-1 is a national number designated by the Federal Communications Commission that enables people to connect to local services quickly and easily with the guidance of trained information call specialists. According to 211us.org, 2-1-1 serves over 260 million Americans (86.6 percent of the entire population) covering all 50 states plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico.

"It's bittersweet saying good-bye to Valley Wide Help after more than 30 years. Our staff took great pride in bringing people and services together. Many callers leaned heavily on our shoulders for information on where to get the very basic necessities -- rental and cash assistance, clothing, food and health insurance," said Cordelia E. Miller, director of emergency services at the Red Cross and the Valley Wide Help program. "We are working closely with the regional call center staff to ensure a smooth transition of our local database of resources."

Calls to the regional call center are answered live, Monday - Friday, 7 a.m. - 6:30 p.m. Plans are under way to expand to a 24/7 operation as funding sources are identified and partnerships expanded with the counties in PA 2-1-1 East, says Toni L. McCuistion, director of the regional call center. The regional center is active in Berks, Lancaster, Lehigh and Northampton counties. Schuylkill, Carbon and Lebanon counties will be added at a later date.

"As a model information and referral center for 35 years, we're delighted and proud to now serve greater Lehigh Valley residents as their trusted information and referral resource," McCuistion said. "We plan a formal 2-1-1 promotion in the greater Lehigh Valley in spring. We want to be sure that all citizens know that 2-1-1 is available and we are ready to serve them."

Funding for Valley Wide Help was provided by the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley and Lehigh and Northampton counties. "United Ways have a long-standing tradition of funding information and referral services in their respective communities," said Arlene Lund, vice president, strategy, engagement, & operations at the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley.

"2-1-1 and its goal to connect people to community resources represents the mission of United Ways nationwide to better people's lives. In addition, when a community is coping with floods, fires or other large-scale emergencies, 2-1-1 is a key tool."

Starting Jan. 2, 2012, calls to the Valley Wide Help lines for information and referral will be directed to 2-1-1.

The Valley Wide Help printed directory, a 277-page, spiral-bound publication listing contact information for more than 1,000 local nonprofit human and social service agencies and organizations, as well as state and national agencies, will be available for purchase at the reduced cost of $10. Each agency listing includes a brief description of services, street address, telephone number, Web and e-mail addresses and hours of operation. Call the Red Cross at 610-865-4400 for purchase and pickup details.

For more information about 2-1-1 or LINC, visit www.211us.org or www.uwlanc.org.

Looking Back on Valley Wide Help

Valley Wide Help was formed in 1980 in response to a growing need to have one place for people to call to get information.

"There was a whole variety of help lines that grew up between the early 80s and it created a lot of confusion about who to call to get information. It was very frustrating for a person trying to navigate the human service system," said Dave Rabaut, retired senior vice president at the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley, and key player in forming Valley Wide Help. "Creating Valley Wide Help was a successful attempt to resolve that issue by providing one central place for people to call to get connected with services 24/7."

A community planning committee was formed to address the need for a one-stop shop for information. The council was comprised of representatives from the former Lehigh County and Northampton County United Ways, the two counties and the Lehigh County Red Cross.

"The group agreed that two key elements were needed in a unified system for people to get information. We needed the Red Cross because they had the experience in case management and emergency services and we needed the United Ways and the counties for their expertise in database management and funding," Rabaut said.

Valley Wide Help became a program offered by the Lehigh County Red Cross which was located at 1244 Hamilton Street in Allentown, the former home of Hess Brothers department store founder and owner Max Hess.

About eight caseworkers worked 24/7 answering banks of telephones with 10-12 buttons each. They handled Red Cross military emergency communications and dispatched disaster volunteers to house fires and other emergencies for three Red Cross chapters (Lehigh County, Bethlehem and Easton) via radios. They also were the first point of contact for seniors who needed police or medical assistance through Valley Wide Home Alert, a personal emergency response system.

Valley Wide Help also acted as an answering service for a host of human social service agencies in the Lehigh Valley, including Turning Point, area housing authorities, Children and Youth Services, and many others. Caseworkers handled calls for the hearing impaired, setting up appointments with doctors, hairdressers and lawyers.

All calls and referrals were logged by hand in notebooks and from that a database was created on the computer. "We would get calls from people complaining about a backed up drain in the dead of winter," recalled Margot Hillman, former Valley Wide Help caseworker, and now an information technology manager for Red Cross. "It was our job to contact the housing authority's on-call maintenance person to get out there and fix it."

One phone in particular stood out: The Lehigh County Crisis Hot Line. "We would put a hand towel over the phone during the day to indicate that county caseworkers were working and handling the calls. At the end of the work day when they transferred the line to us, we would take the towel off. Everyone at Valley Wide Help knew that when the towel was off that phone and it rang, we were to drop everything and answer that call," recounted Teri Holderman, who recently celebrated 33 years with the Red Cross and is the chapter's finance controller.

"After Valley Wide Help was up and running, most of the other help lines gradually faded. Valley Wide Help stood as the one-stop shop for information," said Rabaut.

Another attempt at the same time to get information out to the community was the creation of the phone book blue pages. Rabaut worked closely with Roxanne Strohl of the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley to pull together a single-source of agencies and phone numbers for citizens. "Getting the blue pages done each year was a nightmare. A slipup on one phone digit and it was all over. We would proofread, proofread, proofread - forwards and backwards," added Rabaut.

When the Lehigh County, Bethlehem and Easton Red Cross chapters merged in 1989, Valley Wide Help continued to operate 24 hours for a few years and then later reduced its hours to 12 for cost reasons.

Over its lifetime, Valley Wide Help expanded its services by producing a printed directory of contact information for local, state and national human and social services agencies; creating an online database for Internet users; compiling and publishing lists of organizations that provide specific help during the holiday seasons; keeping a shelter bed count; and working on special projects for the local United Way.

Rabaut says going to the 2-1-1 system is long overdue. "It's about time," he says. "Transforming Valley Wide Help into Pennsylvania's 2-1-1 system goes back to the same premise when we formed Valley Wide Help more than 30 years ago. People need a good and convenient way to know where to look or who to call for essential human services."

The American Red Cross of the Greater Lehigh Valley serves residents of Carbon, Lehigh and Northampton counties. Last year the Red Cross helped more than 92,300 people through preparedness and training classes, military support, senior lifesaving programs and services, emergency relief, information and referral and other education and outreach programs. The Red Cross is a charitable organization - not a government agency - and depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information about the American Red Cross of the Greater Lehigh Valley or volunteer opportunities, call (610) 865-4400 or visit www.redcrosslv.org.