United Way hosts financial workshops as part of America Saves Week

As part of America Saves Week 2016 Feb. 22-27, the United Way of Greater Augusta is spreading the saving message and urging its network to encourage people to make savings automatic.

Community members can visit United Way of Greater Augusta on all social media outlets to receive links to helpful saving tools and resources and to take the pledge to build an emergency savings fund during America Saves Week.

“America Saves Week is a perfect opportunity to rally the community around one of the most over-looked aspects of financial stability—creating an emergency savings fund for life’s unplanned events. In fact, it’s recommended that everyone have at least $500 in savings for just this reason. While that can seem like a difficult goal to reach, there’s a lot of easy and effective ways to build your savings,” said UWGA’s Financial Stability Resource Coordinator, Sara Blevins.

United Way of Greater Augusta is offering free events as part of America Saves Week to encourage people to make savings a priority. Events include two financial literacy workshops which will focus on understanding credit and how to build an emergency savings fund while still maintaining a budget.

Workshops include:

• “Know Your Credit Score” led by DuPont Community Credit Union’s financial educator, Sarah Landram and takes place Monday, February 22.
• “Building an Emergency Savings Fund” led by Sara Blevins and take place Wednesday, February 24.

Both events are free to the public and will begin at 5 pm in the United Way of Greater Augusta’s community room. Community members can find even more ways to save that week by taking advantage of free tax preparation services on Tuesday (Stuart’s Draft High School) or Thursday (Booker T. Washington Community Center) through our partners in America Saves Week, Valley VITA or by utilizing www.myfreetaxes.com.

To learn more about America Saves Week or to RSVP for a financial literacy workshop, contact Sara Blevins, 540.885.1229 x 315 or go online at www.unitedwayga.org/americasaves.