Manitoba Blue Cross once again beats its United Way campaign record
From left to right: Vanessa Hewlett, Jackie Tapley, Andrea Duncan
For the fourth year in a row, Manitoba Blue Cross has beaten its United Way campaign record, raising over $148,000 with corporate match.
“This year was a huge success, to say the least,” said Jackie Tapley, co-chair of the United Way campaign committee. “The giving spirit that we saw throughout our staff was inspiring, and we couldn’t be happier with the results.”
United Way Winnipeg funds over 125 local non-profits that help the city’s most vulnerable. Areas of focus include poverty, employment skills, disability supports, mental health, neighbourhood safety and after-school programs, among others. With administration costs being fully covered by special events and a provincial government grant, 100 per cent of donations are spent directly on helping Winnipeggers.
Among those organizations supported by the United Way is Big Brothers Big Sisters of Winnipeg. On kickoff day, we heard from their executive director, Jane Marion, about their city-wide youth mentorship work.
“Jane’s presentation was eye opening,” Tapley added. “Seeing the work that Big Brothers Big Sisters does for vulnerable young people shows how important it is to offer our support.”
On top of raising funds for United Way, employees have been collecting donations over the past few weeks for Big Brothers Big Sisters and Koats for Kids.
With Manitoba Blue Cross celebrating its 50th anniversary, this year’s campaign theme was “decades” – from the 1970s to present day. Activities included a pet rock decorating contest, video game competition, bake sale, silent auction, ‘80s trivia and costume contest.
“Employee response was incredible,” said Andrea Duncan, co-chair of the committee. “We were thrilled with how many people joined us for each event – both in person and remotely. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive – employees were proud to work together to support an organization that shares our goal of improving our community.”
From all of us at Manitoba Blue Cross, we’d like to thank United Way Winnipeg for their incredible work across the city. And a big thank you goes out to our United Way campaign team and all our employees for making our support of United Way possible!