In 2003, 2-1-1 responded to more than 350,000 calls. The most frequently requested service needs include: financial assistance, protective services, legal assistance, utility assistance, substance abuse, mental health, child care, and housing assistance. 2-1-1 is a partnership established in 1976 between Connecticut United Ways and the State of Connecticut.

Who Calls 2-1-1? Any one. Any time.

• A Manchester woman called about her 13-year old daughter who was at school. The woman had just found a suicide note written by her daughter in the girl's bedroom.
   
• A senior citizen from East Hartford called after returning home from the hospital. She had two toes amputated due to diabetes and came home to find a "shut-off" notice from her electric company.
   
• A caller from Vernon was looking for help for a friend who needed rides to the Dana Farber Institute in Boston for cancer treatments.
   
• A Windsor woman with breast cancer called looking for assistance with the cost of her medications.