PUSLINCH – A single-day in-house fundraising initiative at Wellington Group of Companies (WGOC) last week raised $10,618 to support the Canadian Cancer Society.
June is employee appreciation month at WGOC, and every day of the month a different event is planned to celebrate, ranging from charity fundraisers to Blue Jays games to 2SLGBTQIA+ Pride parties.
On June 21, the special event was a cancer support day, during which staff members were encouraged to “wear the colour of a cancer ribbon,” and WGOC planned to donate money to cancer charities based on the colours worn, said marketing manager Rachael McMunn.
Submitted photos
But the staff “took it one level up and decided to make it a bigger thing,” McMunn said.
First, vice president of operations Chris West said if WGOC staff donated $750, he would let them shave his beard into any style they wanted.
Upon hearing this, McMunn announced WGOC would match all donations made by staff.
“Well, the donations started flooding in and we quickly surpassed $750,” McMunn said. “Then, Chris Peters from customer service said that if we raise $2,000 that he will shave his head.
“The donations kept pouring in, and by the end of the day we were well over $2,000” in donations from staff and a few of their families and friends, as well as the $2,000 from WGOC to match it.
“Then, our longest-tenured staff member,” Alisha Reynolds, challenged her co-workers to a new goal. McMunn explained.
Wellington Group of Companies customer service employee Chris Peters agreed to shave his head if his co-workers raised $2,000 for cancer. When they reached that mark, director of carrier relations Bill Robinson shaved Peters’ head. Then Alisha Reynolds said she’d do the same if the total amount raised reached $10,000. This challenge was met within about 24 hours, and vice president of operations Chris West pulled out the clippers. Submitted photos
If combined donations surpassed $10,000, she would shave her head, too.
“Approximately 24 hours after the first donation came in, our staff hit the $5,000 mark,” McMunn said, brining total donations to $10,000.
A few more donations came in after that, bringing the final total to $10,618.
“The employee-led effort was extremely passionate,” McMunn said, with staff offering “a really good show of support.”
WGOC plans to “divvy it up” the funds between different areas of the Canadian Cancer Society, based on the colours staff wore on June 21, representing the types of cancer that hit closest to home for them personally.
The WGOC consists of Wellington Motor Freight, Wellington Supply Chain, Trucking Proz, TPZ Logistics, Wellington Services, and Wellington International.
