Dakota Halfpenny, Author at United Way Elgin Middlesex

Rise Above: a Night of Hope and Solidarity

by Dakota Halfpenny on August 27, 2021 Comments Off

UPDATED! Nominations are now closed

Nominations are now closed for United Way’s annual Labour Appreciation Awards event, Rise Above: A Night of Hope and Solidarity. Award recipients are selected for their dedication to our community and their steadfastness in going above and beyond to help their neighbours in need.

This year’s event will be hosted virtually on Thursday, January 20, 2022 and the event will feature a live 50/50 draw running from January 10 to January 20.

Buy your tickets today

Every year United Way Elgin Middlesex, in partnership with Labour United, recognizes local Labour leaders in our community who go above and beyond to make sure everyone in our community has a fair shot at their best life.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, our community and workplaces have changed drastically but the good work has continued. We want to recognize those whose commitment and dedication have made a difference.

Nominate your members, your co-workers, and your friends who inspired Hope & Solidarity this past year, whether it was in their workplace or out in the community. We want to recognize members who “rose above” for your local and our community.

We want to celebrate you! We encourage you to nominate those in your workplace who have risen above their normal work expectations. Those who have reached out to help in their communities, to make the world a brighter place, even for a moment, during this time of continued change.

Sue Fairweather, Chair, Labour United

There are 10 awards under 3 categories that you can nominate members for:

The Labour Appreciation Award
These are awarded to 8 Local Union members, who in 2021, took action and inspired Hope and Solidarity

Criteria:

The recipient is a true stand-out member of their local, who inspires those around them.
Offered Hope, optimism, and kindness to others during these trying times.
Embodies the union principle of solidarity and community building.

Change Maker Award
This is awarded to a group, committee, or club that makes a substantial change in our community.

Partnering with a Purpose
This is awarded to a group of dedicated people, that work together collectively to create a community where everyone matters.

Nomination Guidelines:

Nominees must be a member in good standing in a Union or Association
Be sure to include those individuals who are our grassroots heroes
The Labour United Committee will select 8 Labour Appreciation Award Honorees, 1 Change Maker, and 1 Partnering with a Purpose Award which will be awarded, at our Virtual Labour Appreciation in January
Please provide as much detail as possible on the nomination form to help the committee select the winners

Nominations are now closed.

Building Community Wealth in smaller communities - read the report

London and region could lead in community benefits agreements

by Dakota Halfpenny on June 14, 2021 Comments Off

Building Community Wealth in smaller communities

As Canada looks to recover from the impacts of COVID-19, we must look at ways to ensure that the recovery in our communities is both just and inclusive. Community benefits agreements hold out great promise.

Sara Middleton
Director, Community Impact, United Way Elgin Middlesex
Member, Inclusive Economy London and Region leadership team

A new report by the Windsor-Essex Community Benefits Coalition and United Way/Centraide Windsor-Essex County shows how inclusive economy policies could empower rural communities and small- and mid-sized cities like London region.

The report, Building Community Wealth: What is possible in rural, small and mid-sized communities, aligns with policy proposals that Inclusive Economy London and Region has been advancing and should be adopted as a regional playbook.

“As Canada looks to recover from the impacts of COVID-19, we must look at ways to ensure that the recovery in our communities is both just and inclusive,” says Sara Middleton, Director, Community Impact, United Way Elgin Middlesex and member of the Inclusive Economy London and Region leadership team. “Community benefits agreements hold out great promise.”

The report explores how communities can experience long-term dividends through more prosperous local economies by formalizing community benefits in the development process. It showcases a made-in-London example: The London Children’s Museum and michael clark construction are exploring smaller-scale community benefits from the construction portion of the museum’s new location at 100 Kellogg’s Lane.

“Our homegrown example shows how community benefits aren’t only for large cities and mega-infrastructure projects,” says Inclusive Economy London and Region Coordinator Michael Courey. “Right-sizing community benefits agreements and other wealth-building tools for smaller communities can yield long-term dividends that will create a more inclusive economy and create new job and training opportunities for marginalized people in our community.”

The report is endorsed by 25 agencies, businesses and groups across the province.

For more information, please contact Michael Courey, Inclusive Economy London and Region coordinator, at Michael@povertyresearch.ca or 226-926-0360

Read the report

PENNY WISE President, 3M Canada United Way 2021 Campaign Chair

3M’s Penny Wise gets set for a Campaign that sticks

by Dakota Halfpenny on May 21, 2021 Comments Off

I’m amazed by this community’s generosity toward helping friends, neighbours and colleagues. Whether that was donating money or delivering groceries, we came together to help each other. We can do it again this year.

PENNY WISE
President, 3M Canada
United Way 2021 Campaign Chair

In a world where even Post-it® notes have gone virtual, Penny Wise, President, 3M Canada & United Way 2021 Campaign Chair is ready for whatever our ‘new normal’ throws her way. Penny brings over 20 years of progressive leadership in business, commercialization and marketing to United Way’s top volunteer role and led the team that launched 3M’s catchy global tagline: 3M Science. Applied to Life™. Now, she’s up for a new challenge: Leading our region’s most important fundraising campaign, applied to a fair and equitable recovery.

Hope is on the horizon, but it’s looking like another tough year for our community. What encouragement do you have for people who aren’t sure they can give?

I think everyone has a role to play to make sure no one gets left behind this year. Every donation, no matter the size, makes a difference. Every hour of volunteering, that makes a difference. Every act of kindness, that makes a difference too. It all adds up to help United Way support essential local programs and services across our region and advocate for a fair and equitable recovery.

When I look back at how strongly we made it through our first pandemic United Way Campaign last year, I’m amazed by this community’s generosity toward helping friends, neighbours and colleagues. Whether that was donating money or delivering groceries for a friend, we came together to help each other. We can do it again.

From post-it notes to PPE, 3M is known for constant innovation—the perfect mindset for a world where our ‘new normal’ continues to change daily. What are some new ideas you’ll bring to the United Way 2021 Campaign this fall?

Going virtual gives us new ways to engage more people. United Way’s 3M Harvest Lunch & Campaign Launch is a great example. I remember thinking last year, how on earth will we create a memorable, effective event during a pandemic? Because there’s no way 2,000 people are getting together for lunch in Budweiser Gardens!

So we tried something new: every ticket sold bought lunch for a neighbour in need. It was a fantastic success and we delivered more than 3,500 meals through United Way partner agencies across our region. What a great way to gather virtually and do good!

This year we have to be even more creative for a couple of reasons. We all have Zoom fatigue, so what can we do to re-energize and leverage the best of technology? And we need to think about moving forward.

Right now we’re in the throes of this third wave but vaccines are catching up and we’re going to get in front of it. Does this mean we’ll be able to do some events or volunteer in-person this Campaign? I hope so. Our job is to create options and be really agile: this is the virtual version, this is the in-person version and this is the hybrid.

As President of 3M Canada, you lead more than 800 people here in London and diverse teams across the country—all during a pandemic when it’s difficult to connect. How will you lead a Campaign Cabinet of virtual volunteers? What’s your secret for motivating a team you can’t shake hands with?

I’ve worked for 3M 20-plus years—10 here in Canada and 10 most recently in our head office in St. Paul, Minnesota. I came back home in January 2020, just before the pandemic started.

My plans to get out across the country and engage with employees, re-connect with those I knew from before, and meet new employees who joined while I was gone—well those all went out the window in March.

There’s been a lot of work in 2020 about how to engage with employees when you can’t be together in person. The most important thing I’ll bring forward is recognizing that, whether it’s 3M-ers or the United Way Campaign Cabinet, these are incredibly talented, smart, inspirational and motivated people.

So, I don’t need to shake their hand. I view my role as Campaign Chair as someone who guides, someone to ask questions, someone to support and lift up those around me. My job is to figure out where can I help and where can I add value to an amazing team in order for them to be the most successful.

What’s motivating you personally to take on this huge volunteer role? Is anything keeping you up at night?

Coming back to London after 10 years in the U.S. is a real honour. My kids grew up here, they went to school here, they participated in community activities and summer camps here. Now it’s my opportunity to give back to a community that gave so much to us.

Nothing is keeping me up at night that isn’t on the minds of most Canadians right now. It’s tough out there. I think about deepening poverty and people who have lost jobs. I think about mental health and the social isolation that’s affecting so many. We’re all anxious as we move through this third wave wondering if it’s the final one, how we’ll protect the most vulnerable, and how we make sure it’s a recovery for all.

As Co-Chair of the Council for Women’s Advocacy at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, we’ve been very focused on making sure women don’t come out of this pandemic further behind. My 23 year-old daughter just graduated from university and my job is to ensure that in the business world, or wherever she chooses to work, women aren’t slipping back a couple of decades. She needs to be able to stand on our shoulders.

When the pandemic hit, 3M Canada stepped up to play a crucial role in our community’s response to COVID-19. It’s clear you’re as passionate about improving lives locally as we are. What else makes us such good partners?

I’m really proud that 3M Canada and United Way have a decades-long partnership locally. Last year we ran a $400,000 workplace campaign, embedded a 3M Gives volunteer, and made a corporate donation for COVID-19 relief.

We have strong synergy, right down to our core values. Our tagline ‘3M. Science Applied to Life.TM’ is all about improving lives through science and technology. United Way’s is ‘Improving lives locally.’ We come at it in different ways but we’re both dedicated to helping people live their best life.

STEM education, for example, is incredibly important for creating opportunities for the future, especially in underserved populations. It’s a critical part of 3Ms broader social responsibility platform.

While re-imagined events like 3M Harvest Lunch allow us to engage more people, I think they also highlight that many of us take it for granted that everybody has access to the Internet and a computer.

The pandemic has shown where we need to do more to make sure everyone has the tools, technology and supports to be able to engage with our new normal, because innovation and technology are guaranteed to be part of it.

Watch Penny at the United Way’s ChangeMakers Awards

Meet our 2021 Campaign Cabinet

Penny Wise
President, 3M Canada
United Way 2021 Campaign Chair

Trevor Squires
General Manager, McCormick Canada
Past Campaign Chair

Chad Callander
Executive Director, Meals on Wheels London
2021 Cabinet Ambassador

Tanya Collison
Office Manager, StarTech.com
2021 Cabinet Ambassador

Murray Doucette
CHRO, Vice President, People & Culture LHSC, Victoria Hospital
2021 Cabinet Ambassador

Lisa Fewster
President, OPSEU Local 166
2021 Cabinet Ambassador

Kelly Hancock
Director of Finance, General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada
2021 Cabinet Ambassador

James Heskin
Consultant, Group Benefit Services Canada, Gallagher
2021 Cabinet Ambassador

Tara McCaulley
Manager, Business Development & Entrepreneurship, St.Thomas Economic Development Corporation
2021 Cabinet Ambassador

Anita Miersma
Associate Specialist, Business Development Programs, Canada Life
2021 Cabinet Ambassador

Kate Montgomery
Senior Regional Manager, Three Lakes Counties,
TD Wealth Financial Planning
2021 Cabinet Ambassador

Stephane Ouellet
VP, Strategic Partnerships Middlesex, Hospital Alliance
2021 Cabinet Ambassador

Alyson Paisley
Regional Vice President, Intact Insurance
2021 Cabinet Ambassador

Lindsay Rice
Director of Services and Community Development,
YCWA St.Thomas-Elgin
2021 Cabinet Ambassador

Josh Stewart
Business Representative, LiUNA Local 1059
2021 Cabinet Ambassador

Megan Telfer
Investment Specialist, Scotiabank Group
2021 Cabinet Ambassador

Dan Towers
General Manager, Arcane
2021 Cabinet Ambassador

Passing the torch

by Dakota Halfpenny on May 21, 2021 Comments Off

I can’t believe we have come to the end of the United Way Elgin Middlesex 2020-21 Campaign. Together, more than ever, our community pulled together to show our local love and help people, families and entire neighbourhoods.

As the United Way 2020 Campaign Chair & Chief ChangeMaker, I can honestly say I was in awe and truly inspired by the generosity of our community and by the commitment of our amazing volunteers and workplaces for being so United in Local Love. You truly made a real impact in the lives of our neighbours in need, right here at home.

Together, we helped parents working part-time jobs make ends meet, friends who were struggling with depression and anxiety access mental health resources virtually, and elderly family members receive basic needs and social supports in their home.

As the United Way 2021 Campaign begins, we would be remiss if we didn’t celebrate our successes in 2020 and the incredible impact of some very special ChangeMakers. Annually, we recognize volunteers or workplaces that have gone above and beyond to show their Local Love with our ChangeMaker Awards. Congratulations to all the winners below whose hard work and innovative ideas helped make our community a better place in a difficult year!

As we move into 2021, I will continue to support United Way Elgin Middlesex as a Campaign Cabinet member. I look forward to passing the baton to the United Way 2021 Campaign Chair, Penny Wise, President, 3M Canada. Penny is a passionate leader and will serve our community well as we move through this challenging time. The team at United Way Elgin Middlesex was able to chat more with Penny about the year ahead. You can read her story here.

Thank you again to this incredible community!

Trevor Squires
Chief ChangeMaker
United Way 2020 Campaign Chair
General Manager, McCormick Canada

Watch Trevor’s video

Outstanding Campaign Team
Small Workplace
EPCOR Natural Gas L.P.

Outstanding Campaign Team
Medium Workplace
HCL Logistics

Outstanding Campaign Team
Large Workplace
London Health Sciences Centre

Outstanding Workplace Champion
Small Workplace
Gabriela Wells

Outstanding Workplace Champion
Medium Workplace
Brady Oudman

Outstanding Workplace Champion
Large Workplace
Caitlin Savage

GenNext Ambassador Award
TD Bank Group

Rookie of the Year Award
Peter Gilbert

Innovator Award
Virtual Tour Powered by StarTech.com
StarTech.com and South London Neighbourhood Resource Centre

Lifetime Achievement Award
Kelly Vanderwyst

See winner videos here

Thank you to our generous sponsors

Our extraordinary pandemic year

by Dakota Halfpenny on May 13, 2021 Comments Off

The #LoveLove Letter, United Way Elgin Middlesex

local news with impact

Kelly Ziegner, President & CEO United Way Elgin Middlesex

At United Way, we stand for impact. To us, this means changing lives locally and changing the systems that affect us all. It also means leveraging opportunities to inspire action and come together to solve our community’s toughest issues, even when that opportunity is a pandemic.

At a time when we’re all feeling pretty fatigued, I wanted to share some good news about how our community came together this past year, united in Local Love.

I encourage you to take a few minutes to dive into our 2020-21 Impact Report, a special edition of The #LocalLove Letter dedicated to United Way’s pandemic response. I think you’ll be inspired by our volunteers, our grassroots advocacy efforts, and the astounding impact of our $9.5 million investment in this community thanks to partners and supporters like you.

You can link to the digital version here or, if you’re eager for a break from the screen, you can order a printed copy here.

Looking beyond this extraordinary year, hope is on the horizon. We have an opportunity now to create a fair and equitable recovery, one that truly builds a community where everyone matters. Let’s work together to continue the good news stories and, more important, deliver impact again this year.

Thank you for improving lives locally,

P.S Do you need help for you or a loved one? Call 211 anytime 24/7 to get connected to supports available close to home.

Donate today

Analog?

If you’re ready to re-discover the pleasures of print, we’re happy to mail you a copy of our special edition 2020-21 Impact Report, The #LocalLove Letter: Our Pandemic Year. Fill out this simple form and we’ll pop a copy in the mail.

Or digital?

Sometimes you need the news now, and we’re happy to deliver. Learn more about United Way’s pandemic year in our digital edition of the 2020-21 Impact Report, The #LocalLove Letter: Our Pandemic Year.

South London Neighbourhood Resource Center boxes unloading

Impact 2020-21: Local Love in a Global Crisis

by Dakota Halfpenny on April 26, 2021 Comments Off

The #LocalLove Letter, Impact Report 2020-21: Our Pandemic year

As quick as the pandemic hit, we heard from corporations, labour and community leaders, and individual donors, asking what they could do to help people right now.

Kelly Ziegner
President & CEO,
United Way Elgin Middlesex

On March 11, 2020 the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. On March 26, United Way Elgin Middlesex launched the Local Love in a Global Crisis community response fund, answering the call to support our community’s most urgent needs as we battled the COVID-19 crisis.

“As quick as the pandemic hit, we heard from corporations, labour and community leaders, and individual donors, asking what they could do to help people right now,” says Kelly Ziegner, President & CEO, United Way Elgin Middlesex.

By April 20, United Way deployed its first round of funding—$167,540—to ensure that essential local services could meet growing needs for people already facing barriers like poverty, homelessness and mental illness who had no way to respond to how COVID-19 was affecting their family.

As co-host of the Mayor’s Social Impact and Recovery Task Force, a cross-sector table of social service agencies, local government and other partners coming together to coordinate relief efforts, United Way gained a unique vantage point to do what it does best: connect key stakeholders to make change happen.

“United Way was a natural choice to co-host this vital work given the organization’s vast reach, and its demonstrated ability to drive effective and meaningful change,” says Mayor Ed Holder, City of London. “Thanks to United Way’s relentless dedication as part of this effort, there is no doubt in my mind that lives were not only changed—lives were also saved.”

Three more rounds of Local Love in a Global Crisis grants followed in quick succession, informed by priorities identified at the task force and in consultation with the municipalities of Elgin and Middlesex and Community Foundations in the region.

“Our shared intent was to get money out the door quickly so that those who were most vulnerable didn’t get pushed farther into the margins,” says Ziegner.

By the end of the year, over $1 million from the Local Love in a Global Crisis fund was working in the community, along with $4.5 million from United Way’s annual Community Fund. Grants helped to keep essential programs and services running, and to scale up the most critical programs with new technology to replace in-person services or PPE to allow them to operate safely.

“Our imperative was to get funds to agencies who could do the most good on the ground,” says Sara Middleton, Director, Community Impact, who lead the United Way staff team and volunteers responsible for funding decisions.

“Many agencies expressed relief that they could focus on frontline services because of the work we did to ensure funding.”

LOCALLY RAISED AND INVESTED

By the Numbers:

Local Love in a Global Crisis Community Response Fund
April 1 – Sept. 30, 2020

0

meals/breakfast bags

0

personal hygiene items

0

PPE items

0

laptops, cellphones, headsets and other technology items

0

outreach and
support calls

Read 2020-21 Impact Report

South London Neighbourhood Resource Centre, NWRAP program

Impact 2020-21: Help close to home

by Dakota Halfpenny on April 26, 2021 Comments Off

We all felt so sad. My kids loved coming here,” says Osman. “I loved volunteering here too. It made me feel good inside doing something for the community.

Samia Osman
Program participant & volunteer

When schools closed, in-school nutrition programs closed too. United Way made connections to keep food and basic needs flowing.

Samia Osman loved coming to Neighbourhood Resident’s Association of Westminster Park (NRAWP) programs with her five kids. It was here at the Optimist Club portable nestled between two public schools that they got a healthy breakfast, did fun activities, made crafts and learned how to cook.

When the provincial lockdown closed schools and other public buildings, NRAWP had to close too. Suddenly, Osman’s anchor to the community and the safety net that helped her family stretch their food budget, was gone.

“We all felt so sad. My kids loved coming here,” says Osman. “I loved volunteering here too. It made me feel good inside doing something for the community.”

As soon as the pandemic hit, programs across the region faced the same challenge: how to get food safely to hungry kids and families.

The Ontario Student Nutrition Program (OSNP) was one of them. Without in-school classes, they had no way to feed kids at more than 489 schools across Southwestern Ontario. Last year alone, the program served over 18 million breakfasts and snacks to 113,641 students. As program coordinator for OSNP in London, VON Middlesex Elgin needed community partners with deep roots in local communities.

United Way was in a perfect position to help. As the largest non-government funder of social services in our region, they connected VON to the Child and Youth Network and partner agencies like South London Neighbourhood Resource Centre (SLNRC) and to programs like NRAWP. Within four weeks, OSNP funds were flowing to innovative emergency food programs anchored in neighbourhoods, not buildings.

“Because United Way is at the table with the policy makers, politicians and change makers, we can be on the frontlines with those in need,” says Nancy Needham, Executive Director at SLNRC, who saw a tenfold increase in demand for emergency food and basic needs.

By May, Osman was back at NRAWP’s familiar portable on Thursdays, this time to pick up Breakfast Bags for her kids filled with healthy food for the week plus a few snacks and fun activities they could do on their own.

Around the same time, Eat2Learn, a United Way partner agency providing in-school nutrition programs in ElginCounty, started offering Food Box Fridays, a physically distanced food pick-up program supporting school families struggling to make ends meet.

“Thanks to United Way and the support of the community, we were able to support 6,811 children and youth and 3,850 adults with food hampers and grocery cards during the school closures,” says Charlotte McDonald, CommunityDevelopment Coordinator.

“These hampers gave people the supplies they needed to bridge a difficult time, and the grocery cards gave families the dignity to choose.”

Read 2020-21 Impact Report

Impact 2020-21: New opportunities in a deepening crisis

by Dakota Halfpenny on April 26, 2021 Comments Off

Federal investments in these transformative programs were critical to ensure that rapid relief could reach those who needed it most.

Kelly Ziegner
President & CEO,
United Way Elgin Middlesex

By early spring, the Government of Canada had committed $359 million to help vulnerable Canadians through the pandemic. By Nov. 30, almost $2.9 million was working to sustain essential frontline services here at home.

As the immediate crisis deepened, mounting job losses, poverty and visible homelessness made it clear that people already close to the margins needed even more help now. The Federal government responded with the Seniors Response Fund and the Emergency Community Support Fund (ECSF)—then tapped United Way and area Community Foundations to deliver grants locally.

The priority: vulnerable people living in poverty, members of racialized communities, people experiencing homelessness and more.

It was good news at a tough time,and an opportunity to meet increasing demands at a variety of agencies who didn’t currently receive United Way funding. It was also an opportunity to fund new programs at partner agencies scrambling to meet emerging needs.

The John Howard Society of London District’s (JHS) pilot project was one of them. As provincial jails worked to maintain physical distancing during COVID-19, incarcerated persons near the end of their sentence were granted early release. Many had nowhere to go and ended up sleeping on the front porch or in the parking lot at JHS—a knock-on effect nobody could have envisioned.

JHS’s $150,000 ECSF grant provided wrap-around services including counselling, housing, reintegration supports and basic needs to help individuals safely re-join the community. The program helped 21 participants obtain housing.

Rural people experiencing homelessness in Elgin county faced similar difficulties. With few locations open and even fewer transportation options, simply getting to services was difficult. A $61,677 ECSF grant from United Way helped Central Community Health Centre launch a Mobile Unit to bring primary care services, harm reduction supplies, and basic needs to residents of St Thomas and Elgin County.

Low-income seniors got a much-needed boost too. Cheshire London and VON Middlesex Elgin, lead agencies for the Community Support Services Network, shared a $110,000 Seniors Response Fund grant. One call to the Community Support Services Central Intake system ensured that seniors were connected to supports and services close to home, including grocery delivery, prepared meals and transportation.

“Federal investments in these transformative programs were critical to ensure that rapid relief could reach those who needed it most,” says Kelly Ziegner, President & CEO, United Way Elgin Middlesex. “It was just one way we worked together to keep our region strong as we responded to the pandemic.”

In total, United Way Elgin Middlesex provided 33 organizations with Federal grants to meet high priority needs across the region. Granting decisions were coordinated with London Community Foundation, Aylmer Area Community Foundation and Elgin-St. Thomas Community Foundation to avoid duplication and meet the region’s most pressing needs.

Read 2020-21 Impact Report

United Way recognized as Living Wage Employer November 2019

Impact 2020-21: Lending an expert voice

by Dakota Halfpenny on April 26, 2021 Comments Off

Grassroots issues like paid sick days, living wage, safe working conditions and affordable housing are top of mind now.

Dani Bartlett
Labour Coordinator,
United Way Elgin Middlesex

Addressing complex social challenges requires complex strategies. Public policy work, including advocacy and government relations, is part of what United Way does every day.

Public policy work is sewn into the fabric of United Way’s day-to-day, from relationship building, storytelling and convening unlikely partners around an important issue, to finding windows of opportunity, especially during a pandemic.

“COVID-19 has cut through the noise and brought key labour values to the forefront,” says Dani Bartlett, Labour Coordinator, United Way Elgin Middlesex. “Grassroots issues like paid sick days, living wage, safe working conditions and affordable housing are top of mind now.”

As a strong, non-partisan advocate, United Way works to keep important issues like these front-and-centre with leaders at all three levels of government.

Locally, United Way joined the Middlesex London Health Unit and others to publicly support the 466 York St. location for a Supervised Consumption Facility and spoke publicly about the proposed program, harm reduction and the impact of opioid use in this community, an issue heightened by COVID-19. In November 2020, the site was approved.

Provincially, United Way joined more than 100 other social services and signed on to Ontario for All, an advocacy platform calling on the province to address systemic inequality, income security, childcare and mental health support and more—and to start planning now for a just and inclusive recovery.

Recent data shows that non-profits across Canada are experiencing a 37% drop in donations due to the effects of COVID-19. Many of the long-standing services vulnerable Canadians depend on have closed permanently, and many more are at risk.

When the national conversation moved toward recovery, she shared that local people still needed basics like access to technology devices and food delivery. “We were able to say: we’re still in the midst of this, we’re anticipating a second and third wave.”

With a mandate for sector sustainability,United Way Centraide Canada (UWCC) and other national charities advocated for two policy solutions targeting the Federal government: 18-month bridge funding to see non-profits through the recovery and a donation matching program to re-boot philanthropic giving.

“Support from the federal government is not just an investment in United Way,” says Dan Clement, President & CEO, and Secretary of the Board for UWCC, in comments published December 11, 2020 in The Globe and Mail. “It is an investment in emergency response today, recovery tomorrow, and the future resiliency of communities.”

United Way Elgin Middlesex joined peer United Ways across Canada to bring a hyper-local view to the national advocacy efforts.

“United Way is deeply connected to the communities we serve,” says Sara Middleton, Director, Community Impact. “We know what’s happening on the frontlines in our communities and what we’re seeing as a funder and collaborator.”

The resulting national policy solutions continue to address basic needs just as they look ahead to recovery—one example of United Way’s advocacy work as an ongoing cycle providing local insights to inform provincial and national policies that translate into local action.

“Policy advocacy is long game,” says Middleton. “But we’re hopeful that the spirit of collaboration that helped us through the pandemic will get us through the recovery.”

Read 2020-21 Impact Report

Friendly Callers, senior lady participant

Impact 2020-21: Friendly Callers reaches out to seniors

by Dakota Halfpenny on April 26, 2021 Comments Off

Friendly Callers, senior woman participant

It was an issue even before the pandemic. We were already hearing from a lot of seniors who would call every day just to talk to someone.

Lori Hassall
Director of Crisis and Short-term Interventions at CMHA

Since the start of the pandemic, the Canadian Mental Health Association has seen a 43 percent increase in calls to The Support Line, many coming from seniors who are feeling scared, vulnerable, lonely and isolated.

“It was an issue even before the pandemic,” says Lori Hassall, Director of Crisis and Short-term Interventions at Canadian Mental Health Association Middlesex. “We were already getting a lot of calls from seniors who don’t have supports in the community. Some folks would call every day just to talk to a person.”

Thanks to a $10,000 grant from United Way Elgin Middlesex through the Government of Canada’s Seniors Response Fund, CMHA launched Friendly Callers, a new outreach program matching trained volunteers with seniors across Elgin and Middlesex counties.

The regular call is a chance to check in with seniors, chat and give social support. But it’s also a chance for volunteers to connect seniors to local services like Meals on Wheels, the closest neighbourhood resource centre, or the City of London Age Friendly Network to ensure they’re getting the supports they need.

“There’s so much research now about the impact of loneliness on physical and mental health,” Hassall says. “Social connection is the antidote to that.“

Seniors who might benefit from the Friendly Callers program are being identified in partnership with the Geriatric Mental Health program at London Health Sciences Centre. CMHA is also reaching out to long-term care, retirement homes and other organizations and community groups that support seniors. Individuals are also welcome to self-refer.

Get connected to Friendly Callers

If you, your parents, your neighbours, or any senior you know would like to participate in this program, call CMHA at 519-434-9191 ext. 2223 or email iabs.intake@cmhamiddlesex.ca Monday to Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Read 2020-21 Impact Report