Western will kick off its 2019 United Way campaign with a little chili and cornbread.
Show Your Local Love Fest is scheduled for 11:30 a.m.-1:30p.m. Thursday on Concrete Beach where for a $5 donation you can grab lunch, enjoy some music and soak up that community feeling that comes from working together.
With the $611,866 raised last year, Western community members have now contributed more than $7 million to the overall effort in the last nine years alone. The university has consistently been one of the largest single donors to the campaign, and the largest employee-only donor in the community.
United Way Elgin Middlesex funds 54 partner agencies and 92 programs focusing on moving people from poverty to possibility, helping kids be all they can be and building strong and healthy communities, Kathryn McAuley, Westen United Way Sponsored Employee.
Funds are primarily raised through the annual United Way Elgin Middlesex community campaign – led this year by Western alumna Christy Bacik, BA’92 (Political Science) – which includes donations from company payrolls, corporations and individuals.
These funds are then allocated throughout the community, including the more than 4,000 households that access basic needs supports such as food, clothing and health vouchers; 10,000 children who take advantage of United Way free or low-cost summer camps and after-school programs; and 7,000 people who receive individual counselling or group workshops to address mental-health concerns.
