THUNDER BAY – The city’s municipal fundraising campaign has come to the rescue of the United Way of Thunder Bay once again.
City staff, together with Superior North EMS paramedics and workers at the Thunder Bay Public Library on Wednesday revealed they’d collectively gathered $153,362 for the charitable organization, helping push the United Way past the $1.5-million mark in its quest to raise $2.55 million in 2017.
“It’s because of the mission of the United Way and the importance of supporting our community,” said municipal campaign co-chair Kelly Robertson.
“The key three objectives are to help our kids be the best they can be, to help create possibility out of poverty for individuals living in poverty and to help nurture a strong community here in Thunder Bay. These are very important objectives that our campaign supports and I think that’s what drives our participation in the campaign.”
Though not as large as last year’s give – it fell short by about $60,000 – the United Way’s Jared Zieroth said it was a huge chunk of money, about six per cent of their overall target and he welcomed it with open arms.
The money will be put to good use, he promised.
“The City of Thunder Bay employees have been with the United Way and supported the United Way for more than 22 years. It’s been this community supporting and upwelling in their community to say this is how they show that they care for their community,” Zieroth said.
“Over the last 10 years they’ve raised almost $1.6 million to be able to support this community. It’s a fantastic thing for me to be able to experience as the executive director, to have that level of support from the city.”
Municipal employees gave the largest chunk of change to the campaign, which saw payroll deduction contributions grow, Zieroth said.
Their tally was $120,823, while paramedics contributed $29,181 and library staff gave $3,258.
The campaign closes on Dec. 31. Zieroth said he still expects plenty of corporate campaign donations to be turned over between now and then and remains confident they’ll hit their 2017 target.
