A Call to [Summer] Action

In the middle of a heat wave with uncomfortable humidity and frayed tempers, it’s important to take time to consider that for the most vulnerable people in our community the impact of extreme heat can be significant.  For individuals experiencing homelessness, who already struggle to meet their basic needs on a daily basis, dehydration, heatstroke and sunburns can have a serious effect on health.  

At United Way KW we understand that no one organization or approach will address these needs and complex circumstances.  We invest in local programs and initiatives that together contribute to supporting community members to move “From Poverty to Possibility”.  Taking a focused approach to community investments means emphasizing meeting basic needs, particularly for those who might otherwise slip through the cracks.  Program investments are only a part of taking action that will lead towards lasting change.  In our call to action we emphasize the main components that we see leading to this change: Give. Volunteer. Act.    

Give. 

We live in a caring community.  Though contributions to food banks tend to decrease in the summer months with many people away on vacation, this community contributed 40,000 lbs of food to the local food bank, ensuring that healthy food remains accessible to those in need.

Contributing to United Way KW’s work in our community includes – but extends beyond – the annual workplace campaign.  A variety of options are available, so that you can give in a manner that best suits you and how you want to support your community.

Volunteer.

We know that for Canadians volunteering happens because of “individual preferences and motivations”.  47% of Canadians volunteer and that commitment extends to Kitchener Waterloo and the surrounding townships.  If you have an interest in a particular community issue then there is very likely a role that would benefit from your skills and enthusiasm.  Volunteering could include helping out at a one day special event, through a time limited project, or on an ongoing basis.  Locally, United Way KW supports the Volunteer Action Centre, which serves as a great resource for matching volunteers with the interests and issues that excite them.  The downtime for some during the summer months is a great opportunity to reflect on volunteering opportunities for the fall.

A variety of volunteer opportunities are available at United Way KW.  Recruitment for the Community Investment Team has begun as we prepare for the next 3 year investment cycle in 2014.  This team of volunteers will review and assess program applications.  These assessments are based on the degree to which programs align with United Way KW’s Focus Areas and collective outcomes, and their contributions to collective community change. 

Act.

The systems that meet the basic needs of vulnerable people involve a number of moving parts.  No one group can make that change happen in isolation from another.  Community members that access emergency food hampers, frequently have limited or no access to fresh fruits and vegetables.  This has health consequences.  By contrast an estimated 25 million tonnes of produce end up in landfills each year.  In response provincial politicians are currently examining a proposal to provide tax breaks to farmers who would otherwise dispose of food they could not sell.  This is a small change that could enhance access to healthy food.

Making change like this happen can take time.  Sometimes this action seems slow –more so during the muggy days of summer.  Speaking up about issues you support (or those that you don’t) is one way you can support the good things happening in your community.  Sharing with your friends, family and colleagues the work of United Way KW is an opportunity to take action, whether through social media, at work or at the neighbourhood barbeque!  

A call to action.

Meeting basic needs like shelter, food and the skills to live independently are a daily challenge to the 200,000 people coping with homelessness each year in Canada, as well as the many working poor families, couples and seniors experiencing poverty.  Poverty is persistent, and change may take time, but taking time this summer to consider how you can get involved will benefit you and your community.   How would you like to be involved? Give. Volunteer. Act.

United Way KW’s 4^th Day of Caring was a huge success!

On June 12^th, 2013, 13 volunteer teams from organizations throughout Kitchener Waterloo and area dispersed to 16 projects throughout our community. In total, there were 138 amazing volunteers who came together for the day to donate their time and efforts towards making our community a better place. 

The festivities began with a morning rally at Uptown Waterloo Public Square where participants enjoyed live entertainment, breakfast and a pair of the famous Day of Caring sunglasses (seen below). After hearing some encouraging words from Jan Varner, CEO of United Way KW and Victor Zamin, winner of the 2012 United Way KW Board Chair Award, the projects began!

Activities included landscaping, gardening, painting, food packaging, shed building and tree planting. Many of the projects were outdoors and the weather was absolutely perfect! Of the 16 projects that were completed, the busiest was that of Sunlife Financial volunteers. They had over 20 volunteers participate in a City of Waterloo tree planting project at the University of Waterloo‘s Environmental Reserve! The City of Waterloo also had 16 of their own employees come out to join in the work & fun!

Also in attendance at the Environmental Reserve were Carlos, Sophie & Dave from 91.5 The Beat  and Tracy Shewfelt, Community Outreach Coordinator from the office of MP Peter Braid. Everyone came out with community spirit ready to work. As a result, 20 large trees and 250 shrubs were planted successfully! 

Sunlife Financial has been a major supporter of United Way for over 70 years on a local and national level. Click here to learn more!

This project was one of many successful team efforts at United Way KW’s 4^th Day of Caring. The generous support and hard work of many organizations throughout the area will continue to be seen at partner agencies for years to come. Click here to see photos from this year’s various projects.

From all of us at United Way KW, THANK YOU to all of those who participated. We look forward to seeing you again soon!

Making a Difference

As United Way KW’s Day of Caring is quickly approaching, we reflect on the meaning of a “volunteer”. What does this term mean?

Wikipedia states, “Volunteering is generally considered an altruistic activity and is intended to promote good or improve human quality of life. In return, this activity produces a feeling of self-worth and respect; however, there is no financial gain. Volunteering is also renowned for skill development, socialization, and fun.”

A large part of the non-profit sector’s strength is volunteers; most of them want to make a lasting difference in the community and give their time, expertise and talents.

What are some areas you may be interested in volunteering in the community?

• Food/Hospitality
• Special Events Organization
• Fundraising
• Gardening/Environment
• Boards/Committees
• Counselling
• Health Care/Emergency Services
• Finance/HR/IT/Facilities Expertise
• Recreation/Sports

Find more out about other local areas of interest by visiting the Volunteer Action Centre.

The Volunteer Action Centre is one of our community partners who help develop capacity for local volunteerism. They create and facilitate resources and relationships between its members and the community.

What does the word volunteer mean to you? Let us know @UnitedWayKW

Interested in becoming a volunteer with United Way KW? Click here.

What is Day of Caring?

Day of Caring was created to highlight the importance of volunteerism in establishing lasting community change. Through many caring acts, local volunteers work together for the betterment of our community.

We look forward to the fourth Day of Caring on June 12^th, 2013. We can’t wait to see great volunteerism in action!

Keep up with Day of Caring socially!

Follow Day of Caring on Facebook

Follow Day of Caring on Twitter

Youth & Mental Health Week – Improving the well-being of our children

The health of our community’s children and youth is too often characterized by what’s going wrong and how our kids are getting hurt.  Recent articles outlining the ongoing issues of bullying, health & safety, or a myriad of other contemporary issues, paints a bleak picture of the physical and mental harm suffered by our youth. 

We know that 10-20% of Canadian youth are affected by mental illness, however “mental health is more than just the absence of mental illness. It’s a state of well-being.”  What often gets lost in this discussion are the capabilities that each young person has that can be developed with the right support.

Mental Health Week takes place from May 6^th to 12^th and will place an emphasis this year on youth mental health.  This is an opportunity to reflect on how children and youth bring “existing competencies … [and] resources and are capable of learning new skills and solving problems” to address the challenges in their life.  These natural strengths and abilities are enhanced and promoted by a number of community organizations, including programs supported by United Way KW. 

Within the Focus Area “AllThat Kids Can Be”, United Way KW supports a range of programs and services that contribute to the local Collective Outcome of Improved emotional well-being for our children and youth.  The result?  Children and youth who are more emotionally prepared to handle significant life stressors like the challenges associated with school success, the impact of bullying, or the development of healthy relationships. 

For instance, in 2012 United Way KW supported programs that benefited over 6500 children and youth with opportunities to build positive relationships, whether with peers or adult role models.  These key relationships contribute to the resiliency of our community’s children and youth so that they are better positioned to become healthy adults. 

It takes caring people and good programs to make a lasting change in the emotional well-being of children.  During this year’s Mental Health Week, think about how you can contribute to the healthy development of children and youth, whether with resources, volunteering, or advocacy efforts.  Change starts here. 

Volunteer Week and Earth Day!

Triple Bottom Line... People, Planet, Prosperity

We’ve talked before about our version of the triple bottom line – People, Planet, Prosperity.  We focus on people (community relationships, staff and volunteers), the planet (through our Go Green program) and the prosperity of our area through the work we do in the community, particularly in the three focus areas – all that kids can be; poverty to possibility; healthy people, strong communities (which we call our ‘neighbourhood’ work). 

This week gives us the opportunity to focus on a portion of “people” (National Volunteer Week) and on the “planet” (Earth Day) parts of our triple bottom line.  We’ll be focusing on the “prosperity” part of our triple bottom line in upcoming blogs...  stay tuned!

Passion, Action and Achievement (PEOPLE, Planet, Prosperity)

Thank you to all our volunteers! 

This week is National Volunteer Week, a time to recognize all those individuals who “have acted of their own choice to meet a need without concern for monetary benefit -- people who have translated their sense of civic responsibility into action.”¹ As Jan mentioned at our Community Spirit Awards in February “community spirit is about passion, action and achievement!”  and our volunteers certainly have a lot of community spirit!

As an avid volunteer myself (I actually have serviettes that say “stop me before I volunteer again!”, but so far I haven’t paid any attention to them!) and someone who was a volunteer  with United Way KW before becoming a staff member, I was interested in looking at our organization from the volunteer perspective...

United Way KW has long history of volunteerism – over 71 years ago, a group of 11 volunteers met and Kitchener-Waterloo Federated Charities, as we were known as in those days, was born.  The quote that comes to mind when I think of that group... “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtfully committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”  Margaret Mead.  Those 11 volunteers certainly started a change in our community!

Since then many groups of people have made a commitment to our community by giving their time, energy and passion to making a positive difference through United Way KW.  That small group has grown to thousands? of people, who have given thousands of hours, helping with strategy, fundraising, community investment and administrative work. The ‘work’ of the volunteers has changed with the times and needs of the organization, has helped to make United Way KW the respected and vibrant organization that it is today.

So...  thank you to all our volunteers, past and present.  Change starts here...  and, we couldn’t do it without you!

¹ Heritage Canada

Celebrating Earth Day:  – People, PLANET, Prosperity

“There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew.” Marshall McLuhan

Commander Chris Hadfield has done an amazing job of showing us the beauty of our planet in a way that has captured a world-wide following through the technology of Twitter. I’ve been interested in seeing the planet from a bird’s eye view (or is that a ‘space-station’s eye view’?) since I was young and I’m one of those followers who looks for the photos of places I know, of places I want to know, and of course, of Kitchener Waterloo and area.

What his tweets also show, and what he’s talked about is how fragile the earth is – how it’s something we all have a part in taking care of. 

In doing some ’surfing’ on this topic, I found the following:

·         North America has 8% of the world’s population, consumes 1/3 of the world’s resources and produces ½ of the world’s garbage

·         On average, each Canadian produces 2.2 kilograms of waste each day – 30 million tonnes of waste per year

·         It takes the earth 1.5 years to regenerate what we take out of it in one year

·         If current population and consumption rates continue, by the 2030’s, we’ll need two earths to support us

Kind of depressing, but, I believe there is hope for our fragile planet...  I recently attended the Sustainable Waterloo Region (SWR) ‘Evening of Recognition’.  Hearing what others in our community are doing, what part they are playing in earth sustainability, is inspiring – just having an organization like SWR, which is a “made in Waterloo” idea, inspires me and gives me hope.  United Way KW is a proud to be a member of SWR. Although it feels sometimes that what we’re doing through our Go Green program (‘doing as much as we can with as little as possible’) is small and insignificant, going to an event like this reminds me, that every little bit makes a difference, and when enough of us do that little bit, it makes a big difference.     

So...  how are you going to play your part in taking care of the earth?  What ‘little bit’ are you going to do to make a difference? 

I'll leave you with this quote... 

“...to be able to go away from the world and look back at it, that’s almost the only way to see the world in the true perspective - you see the fragility of it, you see the beauty of it, you see how unique it is even in our own solar system. Standing here on the surface and looking around you don’t really have the same understanding of it as seeing it as one small precious life giving blue spaceship that we all live on and one that we all need to take care of... ...{an astronaut’s perspective} one that everyone needs to see in order for us to survive here on this earth.” Chris Hadfield

PS – Wade Larson, who recently spoke at TED^x Waterloo, through his company ‘Urthecast’ is working on providing all of us with ‘an astronaut’s perspective’ of the earth from the International Space Station. Coming late in 2013.

SAVE THE DATE

Day of Caring has changed to June 12^th this year!

One day each year, United Way KW matches volunteers with local projects. Through many caring acts of volunteerism, local businesses and organizations work together for the betterment of our community.

This year the event has been moved to a much warmer date of June 12^th, 2013! We are excited about the upcoming event and are looking forward to receiving applications from all interested organizations.

This year we are looking for larger projects that require 5-20 volunteers and are either half day or a full day in length. We are also encouraging outdoor projects as the warmer weather will be here!

Project and Volunteer Applications will be available in April, stay tuned for more information!

Please click here for photos from last year’s Dayof Caring.

Give. Volunteer. Act

An Evening with the Kitchener Rangers – A Great Event!

Cathy Snyder, CFO/CAO

“Do this again next year – we’ll attend!"

That’s what people who attended the United Way KW fundraising event were saying as they walked past staff and volunteers after an evening with the Kitchener Rangers.

United Way KW and the Kitchener Rangers teamed up to celebrate their commitment to the community, and to provide a fun night for fans and supporters of every age.
“I was thrilled with the energy of the night and the recognition for both the Rangers and United Way KW.” Said Jan Varner, CEO of United Way KW.

Rangers’ fans showed their support by wearing their Rangers’ jersey’s, lined up to get Rangers’ players autographs and to get their photos with some of the Rangers’ players, and, thanks to the face painters, proudly displayed the Rangers’ and United Way KW logos on their faces.

“Many of our fans stopped me on the concourses to offer their positive feedback on the opportunity to spend the evening with our players, and we are honoured to have been recognized by the United Way KW.” Commented Adriann Kennedy after the event.

We are looking into possibilities for next year… stay tuned!