Nudge needed to reach finish line

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/12/2017 (2316 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The United Way of Winnipeg’s 2017 campaign began by pulling planes, and is coming towards the end in a renovated kitchen in the North End.

But the annual campaign, which helps the agency help more than 200 programs and services in the city, still needs money before it closes the book on its fundraising efforts for another year.

The campaign kicked off in September, with a goal of $20.5 million that was announced at its annual plane-pulling event, which sees teams of volunteers pull either a Boeing 727 or a Canadian Armed Forces Hercules.

Almost three months later, Colin Ryan, this year’s campaign chairman and a senior vice-president and managing director at BMO Nesbitt Burns, said the campaign is at 85 per cent of that goal.

“We’re making the final push to get all of our donations in by the end of this year,” Ryan said, standing in the kitchen of the North Point Douglas Women’s Centre, one of 24 family resource centres the United Way supports.

“We’re confident, but it’s not easy. We still need to get out and talk to people. This really is our community fund… I’ve heard countless stories of people who have been impacted in a positive way by the United Way, and that if this agency didn’t exist they’d be way worse off.”

Through various organizations, big and small, the United Way touches the lives of more than 250,000 Winnipeggers each year.

Ryan said that means “one person every three minutes accesses a United Way agency.”

In recent weeks, the Free Press has told you some of the stories of the people and organizations you help the United Way assist.

You’ve heard about how the Centre Renaissance Centre has a simple mission of offering counselling and related programs to help the community live well.

You’ve heard about how the Mood Association of Manitoba helps teenagers learn coping strategies for depression and anxiety by having them attend a summer band camp called “Let It Out!”

And you’ve heard about how Wolseley Family Place offers a place to go and a hand up for families in the area, 90 per cent of which are led by single moms, and most of them being refugees or Indigenous.

You’ve also learned how Pathways to Education, a program set up in inner-city schools by the Community Education Development Association, helps keep students focused on their studies and their dreams.

And you’ve learned how the Spence Community Care site, an agency under Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre, helps by giving a few hours of child care to children, so their moms can have some worry-free respite time.

Yet another of these places is the North Point Douglas Women’s Centre, located a block off Main Street on Austin Street North.

Tara Zajac, the centre’s executive director, said without the help of the United Way and the Richardson Foundation’s Essential Needs Grant program, they would have had to close its kitchen about a year ago.

“The health inspector was going to shut our kitchen because of health issues,” Zajac said.

“We were given a year to upgrade. We’ve been fortunate because of the help of the United Way and the Richardson Foundation.”

Now, the centre’s kitchen has numerous improvements, including new cupboards, countertop and sink, fridge and stove.

Zajac said the centre offers a drop-in program during the day, where people can have a cup of coffee and chat, access a computer to look for a job or a place to live and get some donated clothing.

The centre also runs other organized programs in the evening, including Red Road to Healing, a program for women who have experienced domestic violence and are ready to start their healing journey guided by traditional teachings including one-to-one support and counselling.

The centre has received funding from the United Way since 2004.

It is one of 24 United Way-supported family resource centres — dotted across Winnipeg — that support kids and families in many ways.

And, even though it says women in the name, Zajac said men can also receive help there.

“It’s not only women who need a safe place — men do, too,” she said.

Ryan said it is by visiting places such as the North Point Douglas Women’s Centre that he can see first-hand how the money coming from generous donors to the United Way can impact the lives of people across the city.

“It’s incredibly humbling to see how hard people are working in the community for others,” he said.

“It’s also humbling to see all the good that donors give to the United Way make it possible.

“At the end of the day, we need people to be generous.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca