GUELPH – The United Way Guelph Wellington Dufferin has launched its annual fundraising campaign focusing not on a monetary goal, but on the work the organization supports in the community.
“Sometimes when you focus on a number, we feel like you lose the focus on the important work we do,” United Way executive director Glenna Banda told the Advertiser following the campaign launch on Sept. 12.
The event took place at Guelph’s Shelldale Community Centre, and was attended by representatives from various community organizations that benefit from United Way funding.
Foregoing the unveiling of the oversized thermometer marked with dollar-value milestones that has been a mainstay of past fundraising campaign launches, the event instead emphasized the campaign theme “better is possible.”
“Today we’re celebrating our 84th United Way campaign in Guelph Wellington Dufferin,” campaign chair Ray Stultz told the audience to cheers and applause.
“We all contribute to this,” he said, noting the campaign raises money – within the community for the community – to support things like food pantries, emergency shelters, mental health crisis lines, after-school programs, seniors’ programs and more.
“We should be proud that we’re taking steps to help in each and every way,” he said.
“United Way is proud of the work that we do, but we couldn’t do it alone.”
He introduced Co-operators associated vice president of citizenship Shawna Peddle, representing the company as campaign sponsors.
She spoke about the importance to the co-operative of giving back to the community.
“We’ve given about $16 million over the last decade to United Way,” Peddle said.
United Way executive director Glenna Banda, left, and 2024 campaign chair Ray Stultz took turns with the microphone during the campaign launch at the Shelldale Community Centre in Guelph on Sept. 12.
But she also noted that when she first started with the Co-operators, she donated through its workplace campaign, but she didn’t really know what United Way did with the money.
“I gave money to United Way, but I didn’t know what they did,” she said.
The morning of the campaign launch, she had the opportunity to tour some of the organizations United Way supports, including Hope House and the SEED.
She went on to say the message she took away from the experience was “the opposite of poverty is community.”
The SEED’s manager Tom Armitage also took to the stage, along with Wyndham House executive director Kristen Cairney, to talk about the intersection between food and housing.
Together they described how, by working together, the two organizations are able to make better use of the United Way’s support.
Armitage described how the SEED procures, stores and delivers food to a variety of partner organizations, such as neighbourhood food pantries, school snack programs and housing providers like Wyndham House.
From the beginning of the SEED’s wholesale program eight years ago, the organization has gone from about $60,000 of food moving through the SEED up to about $2 million in donated food, and close to another $1 million in purchased food, he said.
“A lot of that is facilitated by United Way,” he added.
Cairney spoke about the impact of partnering with the SEED, saying better access to fresh food helps Wyndham House’s youth clients not just eat better, but learn about things like food preparation and food waste.
The organization has also been able to start a food pantry to support independent youth, she said, adding the partnership has helped the organization find cost efficiencies, too.
“This is really about collective impact,” she said. “The actual impact … is way beyond the funding that was provided.”
Cairney went on to say their collaborative work exemplifies the United Way’s campaign slogan of “Better is possible.”
Banda admitted issues like food security and homelessness are not going to be solved within the next six months that make up the bulk of the fundraising campaign, but she said making a donation to the campaign is a start.
“Every contribution counts, and as you’ve just seen, it only take a minute to make years of difference,” Banda said.
While she didn’t announce the goal on stage, following the launch event, Banda said the United Way is aiming to raise $2.6 million, and hopefully more.
She said last year, when the organization began taking applications for funding from various community organizations, the demand was two and a half times higher than the funding available, with everyone saying they could do more if they only had more resources.
This is where the donations come in, she said.
“We believe that at the end of the day, it’s all going to add up to better for our community,” she said.
To donate to the United Way, visit unitedwayguelph.com.
Child Witness Centre’s accredited facility dog Monet poses for a photo at the United Way’s campaign launch on Sept. 12. Monet provides comfort for children in difficult situations, such as attending court, and the Child Witness Centre is one of many organizations that benefit from United Way support.
