Aloha United Way to launch 211 hot line
By Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Staff Writer
Soon you will be able to dial 211 for a helping hand.
Starting July 16, Hawai'i callers who dial 211 will be able to talk with operators who can provide them with community service information ranging from counseling to recreation, from support group numbers to emergency family aid.
The hot line will hook up callers with the same information that calling ASK-2000 produces now, but with a simplified number. It joins 411 (information) and 911 (police, fire and rescue) in the exclusive club of three-digit dialing, according to Trudie China, vice president of marketing for Aloha United Way.
The sneak preview of the three-digit phone number was given at yesterday's Community Connections forum at the Ala Moana Hotel.
However, because it will be six weeks until the launch of 211, don't forget your seven-digit ASK Aloha United Way number (275-2000) just yet.
The Aloha United Way intends to kick off the three-digit, 24-hour access line to human-services helping information with great fanfare, China said.
Preparations have been under way for more than a year to make 211 the number to dial for access to community service information in areas Ask Aloha United Way's hot line currently serves. But it's not just for those in need, it's also a hot line "if you want to give help," China told nearly 200 representatives from about 60 social service and faith-based community service agencies at the forum.
The Ask Aloha United Way's database has about 1,700 helping agencies, nonprofit as well as governmental. China urged members of the forum to add their names to the list.
Other areas across the nation, including Atlanta, the Midlands area of Texas and Connecticut, to name a few, have already launched 211 as a three-digit phone number for helping information. There are more than 20 areas using the three-digit phone number so far, she said.
Just as 911 isn't centralized, the information and referral providers across the nation will come from a variety of sources, China said.
A sample of information for which you will be able to dial 211:
• Family services: Legal aid, information for pregnancy and adoption, family stress, runaways, support groups, single-parent help.
• Recreation: Activities for seniors, arts and crafts, Scouting, camping permits.
• Emergency aid: Child abuse and neglect, domestic violence, shelter services, sex assault, food pantries, mental health, suicide and crisis, accidental poisoning.
• Health services: Smoking cessation, immunizations, stress management, drug and alcohol abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, insurance, wellness programs.
• Educational: Adult literacy, after-school programs, English as a second language, job training.
• Community service: Consumer complaints, debt counseling, landlord/tenant services.
