UW volunteering made couple feel welcome

United Way helped the couple quickly fall in love with their adopted home.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- Nearly 40 years ago, Tom and Margaret Smith were not happy about their move to Salem.
Tom is vice president of Pittsburgh Foundry and Machine Co., and he and Margaret moved to Salem from Pittsburgh in 1967 so Tom could run the foundry's Salem plant.
Tom said they weren't happy about the move because they didn't want to leave Pittsburgh or move to Ohio.
They came to Salem not knowing anyone, but volunteering for United Way helped the couple to make friends, and they quickly fell in love with their adopted home.
Tom said he began volunteering for United Way soon after he arrived in Salem "because someone asked me to." He said he always had a desire to help people and be involved in worthy causes.
Margaret was public information director for the Salem City Schools and also worked at area newspapers. She retired in 1989, and with time on her hands, joined her husband on the United Way board.
"You have to get involved in a community to become part of it," Tom said. The couple reared four children in Salem and now have 12 grandchildren.
"I didn't get involved in United Way as a way to meet people, but that's what happened," he said.
Giving spirit
Volunteering with United Way has given the couple a good view of the community's giving spirit. Not only volunteers of United Way, but those of the agencies funded by United Way are true believers in the causes they're working for and put heart and soul into the efforts, he said.
"Volunteers in Salem are impressive," Tom said. "The representatives of the agencies we serve express their needs to us during the budget meetings. They are very sincere, and you wish you had millions to give them. When United Way is short of its goal, that means those agencies don't get all the funding they need. It's tough to make cuts when you know all the good they do."
Margaret said she believes in donating through United Way because so many people can be helped.
"People ask for money all the time for very good causes, and you want to contribute, but you know you can't do it all," she said.
Tom said giving through United Way is a good way to donate because most of the money donated stays in the area.
"They are careful with the money, and about one in four people in the county receive help from United Way," he said. "It's good because you know local people are being helped with local money," he said.
Quality counts
The couple said they have been impressed over the years with the quality of people who serve on the United Way board.
"You just have to go with the ebb and flow of the economy each year," he said. "The people on the board don't always agree how things should be done, but we work things out, and in the end we come up with a decision and everyone is happy."
Tom and Margaret are active in the First Presbyterian Church in Salem. Tom is a member of the Salem Community Foundation board, has been a member of the Salem Chamber of Commerce board and is a past chamber president. He is a board member of Century House, a Salem retirement home for women.
Margaret is a founding member of AID, a telephone referral service, and is a volunteer at the Butler Institute of American Art.