Every hour of every day, someone in West Alabama needs essential services from finding substance abuse assistance to securing adequate care for a child or an aging parent. Faced with a dramatic increase in the number of agencies and help lines, people often don't know where to turn. In many cases, people end up going without these necessary and readily available services because they do not know where to start.

In 2000, your United Way and the Information & Referral Service (just one of the 27 agency and initiative partners United Way serves) partnered to bring 2-1-1, a national help-line program, to West Alabama. Customized for the community, this service provides callers with information about and referrals to human services for every day needs and in times of crisis - 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

According to the national site 211.org, 2-1-1 serves approximately 90 million Americans - over 32% of the US population. There are 132 active 2-1-1 systems in 26 states.