Written by Melissa Karen Sances
Photos by Nikki Gardner Photography

Sponsored by Valley Home Improvement

Published in Northampton Living (January 2023)

When Holly Martineau joined the United Way of the Franklin and Hampshire Region last March, the first thing she did was celebrate. That’s because 2022 marked the organization’s 100th year of extraordinary service.

“The 100th anniversary of any nonprofit is a huge event,” says Martineau, director of development for the Northampton-based branch. “But the United Way is funding organizations that serve those most in need, and those needs are constantly changing. So that means we need to evolve as well.”

In Northampton, the United Way began thanks to a “concerned citizen.” That’s how they identified themselves in their 1921 letter to the The Daily Hampshire Gazette. “Everyone is tired of drives,” they wrote, “but I am sure that one a year would bring with it an enthusiasm quite lacking in our present system.”

An exploratory committee formed by the Chamber of Commerce considered a community chest, a collection of funds raised by the community for select organizations chosen by the committee. The majority was in favor of the idea, so the first meeting of the aptly named “Community Chest” was held in January 1922. Thus began the first campaign for six member organizations.

It took a while for the group to get traction. The Great Depression was on the horizon. Advertising was limited to newspapers and trolley cars; the radio wouldn’t be popularized until the 1930s, and the television two decades later. Soliciting money largely meant going door-to-door, and a 1935 committee report noted “much wariness by those who had engaged in the pushing of doorbells and the wearing out of shoe leather.”

Gradual improvements were made, like electing a president and board of directors, changing the campaign name to the "Community Chest and War Fund” during World War II, teaming up with new local radio station WHMP, and hosting bigwigs like soon-to-be-President John F. Kennedy. In 1965, the campaign raised more than $100,000, and in 1973 the name was changed to Hampshire United Way.

A pivotal day for the organization was June 1, 1978, when John Sheehan was hired as executive director, a role he held for the next 23 years. Under his watch, the campaign cleared $1 million in 1995, and there were 30 member organizations by 1998.

When asked about his favorite moments, Sheehan, now 83, remembers joy. His program Books & Cooks, which brought cookbook authors to town and challenged local restaurateurs to make their recipes, drew famous Smith alum Julia Child. After the fundraiser, he says, “we’d go to Smith College and have a party just for the authors and chefs. I can remember her saying, more than once, ‘Isn’t this great that we can do something for the community and have fun?’”

There was a lot of laughter after each campaign. At the annual victory breakfast, Santa Claus would arrive to “roast” everyone. In a photo taken during one of the gatherings, Sheehan, perched on Santa’s lap, is chuckling while St. Nick talks into the mike. “Santa was saying, ‘Now, the whole world knows John Sheehan and the Hampshire United Way. We all admire how well he does his job and how well he dresses. John single-handedly brought back bell-bottom trousers.'" The jokes were even funnier because Santa was his good friend Rick Lee, the longtime executive director of the local Red Cross.

But his mantra, adopted from volunteer and friend Tom Hennessy, was solemn: “It’s up to those of us who are standing to help those who are down.”

In the years since Sheehan’s retirement, the local United Way has continued to grow. In 2021, Hampshire and Franklin counties merged to further increase capacity. There are now 54 partner programs, and the goal for the current campaign, which runs though June 30, 2023, is $1.4 million.

Geoff Naunheim, who was named executive director last November but has been with the organization for five years, points out that only 1.5 percent of revenue each year goes to United Way Worldwide. Everything else goes right back to the community – the community that has been giving generously for a century.

“We can never meet the need,” says Martineau, “but we always strive to meet the need. One day, maybe we will.”