Big goal

The United Way’s 27 agency partners are there for their clients 24/7, so it’s only natural the charity’s 2010 campaign goal would reflect the round-the-clock nature of need.

On Friday the organization announced a record $2.47 million target, a number campaign chairman Wayne Fletcher called challenging, but doable.

"The United Way is about hope, and if we don’t have hope, then who does? It’s good to challenge ourselves and to challenge the community, because unfortunately the need hasn’t diminished," said Fletcher, the well-known principal at Superior Collegiate Vocational Institute.

"I think that Thunder Bay has been in the doldrums for a long time and I think that it’s going to start to turn around. But it doesn’t mean our need has changed."

The 2010 goal outpaces last year’s $2.2-million ask by more than $250,000, and eclipses the collected total of $2.3 million by more than $150,000.

Their success of a year ago gives Fletcher all the confidence in the world they can do it again.
"Every year, ever since I’ve been involved, I’m always amazed at the community," Fletcher said. "They have such great hearts. One of the things we’ve heard … is that this community does have a golden heart. We believe with our work and their support, we can do it."

It’s money well spent, said Linda Stewardson, the featured speaker at Friday’s breakfast launch, herself a former client through the Canadian Mental Health Association.

Stewardson, abused physically and sexually as a child by her stepfather, who later stabbed her and left her for dead on the side of the road, said without the help the funded Crossroads program she probably would be dead, the victim of alcohol and drug abuse that began as a child and followed her into adulthood.

Stewardson, who arrived in Thunder Bay nine years ago with little more than hope and a suitcase filled with clothes, said she’s living proof the United Way does help heal the one in three people it affects in the city each year.

"Nine year ago, when I went into the Canadian Mental Health Association, I had nothing. I had no boyfriend, no husband, no friends," she said, detailing her journey from despair to happiness thanks to support provided by the United Way.

"Today I look at my life and I’m just so rich. I have a husband. I have tons of friends. I have a cat that thinks he’s human and two wonderful boys."

It’s stories like this that have convinced Fletcher of the importance of the work of the charity, and why he and his campaign team plan to push extra hard in 2010 to meet the goal and provide the biggest possible contribution to the 27 agencies the United Way funds in the city.

It’s an ongoing challenge, he said.

"Over the last several years we’ve been working on increasing employee campaigns and we’ve been successful at that. We want to continue doing that. We’re increasing our presence on the Internet and the web, so that’s to try to attract new donors in the younger sort of age group. And each individual divisions goes through a set of exercises where they determine where can they increase their individual campaigns."

For more information about the 2010 campaign, visit www.unitedway-tbay.on.ca.