United Way promotes assistance phone line

By NAOMI SMOOT / Journal Staff Writer

MARTINSBURG — Help is just a phone call away, according to Trina Bartlett of the United Way of the Eastern Panhandle.

Already, residents know to dial 9-1-1 for fire and medical emergencies and to dial 4-1-1 when in need of information like directions and phone numbers. Now, the United Way wants people to know they can also dial 2-1-1 to find programs, and assistance in their area.

“It is a huge service for the area,” she told Berkeley County commissioners on Thursday.

Whether one is searching for an afterschool program or money to help pay the bills, assistance is just three little numbers away.

The telephone line was created in 1994 and now serves nearly 196 million people in 41 states. West Virginia is among those with statewide 2-1-1 informational networks, and now, the Eastern Panhandle has joined in with its own information center, Bartlett said.

If area residents dial the informational hot line during business hours, they are able to reach local representatives who can direct them to a host of different programs. Instead of searching frantically to figure out where to turn, residents can access a variety of programs through just one number, Bartlett said.

At present, West Virginia’s program receives $40,000 in state funding, Bartlett said. Residents in the Eastern Panhandle can access this line at all times and are forwarded to their own call center when operators are available.

The local center is currently funded through the area’s United Way, Telamon Corporation and grants, Bartlett said. Thursday, she asked Berkeley County commissioners to help support the program.

Counties throughout the tri-county area are being asked to contribute $500 to $1,000 to help fund the center, she said.

Commission President Steve Teufel said that while he was supportive of the phone line, he questioned whether this would be another program that was handed over to the counties to fund after the state discontinued providing financial backing. Often, he said, state funds are given to programs in their early years, and then as time passes, counties are asked to take over the programs’ funding.

Bartlett said that will not be the case for 2-1-1. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., have introduced legislation that would give federal funding to the help line, she said.

Teufel told Bartlett to request funds from the Martinsburg City Council, in addition to the county. The commission’s funding for the help line could be considered at the end of the fiscal year when unappropriated funds are distributed.

Commissioner Bill Stubblefield expressed support for the call line.

“It sounds like a marvelous service,” he said Thursday.

— Staff writer Naomi Smoot can be reached at (304) 263-8931, ext. 183, or nsmoot@journal-news.net