What was started by five people in Denver 125 years ago has now
become a global symbol of community service.   Many of the
world's most important movements and organizations are born from
very modest circumstances. United Way is a case in point.   In
1887, a Denver woman, a priest, two ministers and a rabbi joined
forces to raise funds for local charities and coordinate relief
services. This group would kick-start a movement that would
expand across the country and eventually the globe. Chicago's
own United Way history begins in the Great Depression when
watching their fellow citizens struggle to survive, a small
community of business people from the Chicago Association of
Commerce gathered to help those in deep poverty.  That
committee, led by Edward L. Ryerson, Jr., president of a leading
metals manufacturing company, would be the foundation and formal
beginning of United Way of Metropolitan Chicago (UWMC).  Over
the next 80 years, UWMC has advanced the common good by
providing the necessary social services