Greetings from Martin Ritsma, Campaign Co-Chair
Greetings from Ryan Erb, Executive Director
Greetings from United Way
We applaud you as an employee working during challenging times to help ensure brighter futures for the young people in our communities!
We invite you to join with United Way this November by donating to our campaign. Your donation stays in the community you work in, directly supporting your school families.
To donate follow the link provided to you in an email sent Friday Nov. 6th from andar@perthhuron.unitedway.ca. Check junk folder or contact campaign@perthhuron.unitedway.ca, if you cannot find this login email. Payroll and Credit Card options available.
The easiest way to give is through payroll deductions. A donation of $20 from each payroll can go unnoticed by you, but it can make an extraordinary difference to the community you work in. At HPCDSB, we are hopeful all staff will participate with a donation amount that works for them. The goal for HPCDSB is 80% staff participation – make your school community proud and support the the students and families you work with every day through United Way.
If you have any questions about United Way, please contact Susan Faber at sfaber@perthhuron.unitedway.ca or call 519-271-7730.
Information Topics Relevant to Educators
Financial support for your students and their families in a time of crisis through the Urgent Needs Fund
Since May, United Way Perth-Huron has provided over $87,000 and helped 610 people thanks to generous donors like you. Help keep this fund available to our vulnerable population.
One in two families in Perth-Huron struggle to earn enough to get by, living paycheque to paycheque with no buffer against life’s challenges. These are some of our most resilient community members, but one emergency can create a crisis that’s hard to recover from. The Urgent Needs Fund is available to support local residents in a time of crisis with funds for essentials like rent, groceries and medication for people like Cassie:
It was only Cassie and her two children. Cassie worked part-time, but she usually got a lot of hours so her minimum wage job just covered all of her expenses. Cassie knew she should save a little extra just in case, but there wasn’t a single cent left after covering the necessities of life. One morning she felt dull throbbing in her jaw that increased quickly to a blinding pain. Cassie was able to get off work early, but she knew she was going to miss three hours of pay. The bigger problem was money for a dentist. She didn’t have any and she couldn’t afford to continue missing work either. In pain and without enough money, Cassie burst into tears.
If a school family is facing financial challenges, please direct them to:
- In Perth County, submit applications via email to rbrown@stratford.ca or 519-271-3773 x277
- In Huron County, submit applications via email to owteam501@huroncounty.ca or 519-482-8505 x4501
Use 211 & 211ontario.ca to connect members of your school community with local programs
211 is a free, confidential helpline connecting individuals and families to services. A live, trained counsellor answers calls 24/7/365 and will talk through the caller’s challenges. Problems seldom have one solution, so the chance to talk about multiple challenges and receive referrals for each is an incredible local service. Your donation directly helps this valuable service continue to be available to those in your school community. Share the number with your students, colleagues, friends and neighbours. No problem is too big or too small for 211. Simple searches are also available at infoperthhuron.ca (but a phone call is better).
You can call on behalf of a family or suggest a family call.
Addressing pressing local issues in the community you work in and care about
We love where we live. We also know that every community has its own individual challenges that need specialized support. United Way Perth-Huron continues to develop community committees in major towns and their surrounding area across Perth-Huron. These United Way-supported groups of volunteers delve into the deep-seated local issues through consultation with schools, service providers and organizations.
In Goderich, Exeter and the surrounding areas chronic homelessness was identified as a pressing issue so United Way implemented an action plan with local partners. Through local donations three more beds were created at Huron Turning Point, a Housing Advocate was hired, and continued prevention and support services were provided for youth and women.
In St. Marys food security was highlighted, resulting in the creation of the NOURISH Equal Access Food Market. NOURISH makes healthy fresh food available at wholesale prices and enables families to shop with dignity in the place they live. Committee volunteers also highlighted the need to support those living in social housing and connecting residents to local services. Once again, St. Marys residents are investing in a Community Connector and Supportive Housing Worker to help make the place they live even stronger.
Regional information is attached. Know that your donation to United Way stays 100% local, supporting the challenges your community is having.
Providing local data to help inform classroom learning
Help your students discover the well-being of their community through myPerthhuron.ca, a United Way Perth-Huron initiative. myPerthHuron is a constantly evolving, centralized platform to find data and statistics on:
Helpful to schools and libraries, myPerthHuron is also becoming a central place for local municipalities, counties and service providers to find real time information about the communities they serve. Your generous donation will help ensure valuable resources like myPerthHuron continue to be available in our community.
Helping provide brighter futures to people in your school community and beyond
Last year United Way Perth-Huron helped 34,928 people across Perth County, Huron County, St.Marys and Stratford. With United Way’s support, almost 50 local organizations were able to concentrate on helping their clients, not worry about funding sources.
Your donation supports United Way’s work in the community, addressing a diverse set of challenges including those experiencing homelessness, individuals battling mental health problems, families living with domestic violence, men making a fresh start after incarceration, providing food to our community members and providing mentors and the opportunity for activities to our youth, just to name a few.
Your generous donation can help so many and you can see the results in your school and community.
Connecting students with opportunities to help in their community
Students need volunteer hours. On a practical level, they need them to graduate, but we know the experience also helps students gain knowledge of their community, the world they live in, adds to their resume and may even be the start of a lifelong interest or career. In short, volunteering is an incredibly valuable experience and our organizations need that support.
United Way Perth-Huron is committed to connecting students and organizations here in Perth-Huron, over the last five years through iVolutneer Perth-Huron and now through a new platform called Gigit. To learn more about Gigit contact Susan at sfaber@perthhuron.unitedway.ca. As the platform grows and helps the local community, the volunteer opportunities will also grow. Keep an eye on the space and share it with your community.
Share ongoing local advocacy for the most vulnerable in our communities to help lift them beyond poverty
Half of households in Perth-Huron are living on less than a Living Wage.
The concept of a Living Wage is bigger than income. It’s about quality of life. It’s about ensuring that families in our school communities can afford to pay their rent and buy nutritious food; that parents are healthy and able to pay for transportation to get to work every day; and children are given sufficient social and educational opportunities to flourish.
The Living Wage calculation is based on the living expenses of a family of four in Perth-Huron with both adults working full-time for 35 hours a week each, once government transfers and deductions have been taken into account. Download the Living Wage Summary (2019) (PDF)
United Way Perth-Huron invests in long-term planning and advocacy around Basic Income, Living Wage and poverty reduction. Your donation supports that work, helping lift our local community and making a better life for everyone.
Resources to help your students make educated choices
Years ago, United Way Perth-Huron would print ‘the little black book’ to help youth find local programs and services. With a move online to where their eyeballs are, and a more sustainable model that moved away from printing every few years, connectyouthperthhuron.ca became the local online resources for youth in the community. The feedback we receive tells us Connect Youth helps empower youth to make good decisions and is quite often the impetus for them reaching out to an adult for help once they have had the opportunity to research and process information themselves. Please share this United Way funded service with your students, friends, neighbors and families and consider donating to support this and other important community services provided by United Way locally.
Learn more about the pressing local issues affecting the community you work in and the way forward
It’s hard to support a solution if you don’t know what the grassroots problem is. United Way Perth-Huron is proud to have an in-house Social Research and Planning Council (SPRC) — powered by over 50 local volunteers — working on the pressing local issues of mental health, poverty reduction, Basic Income and Living Wage advocacy as well as COVID-19 resiliency and rebuilding. The SRPC releases reports every one or two years, delving into community issue and offering recommendations. For more information about the SRPC’s reports visit https://perthhuron.unitedway.ca/research/. The SRPC is an integral part of United Way, ensuring the organization is responsibly and effectively approaching issues across Perth and Huron.
Challenge your students to get more involved in helping their local community
United Way Perth-Huron is here to help your school community, whether it’s through 211, Connect Youth Perth-Huron, MyPerthHuron, the Urgent Needs Fund, research and planning, volunteering, poverty reduction advocacy, regional initiatives, volunteering or helping 34, 928 people in Perth-Huron yearly. Please share these resources to help those in need.
We are excited about a couple upcoming events:
The Noa Challenge:
A fifth birthday during a pandemic can be challenging, but Noa and her parents made it something special that Noa and her community will remember for a long time to come.
Noa’s idea to open a smoothie stand to earn money and buy something nice for herself grew into a community-supported two-day event where Noa sold pre-wrapped popsicles (taking into account the challenges presented during a pandemic) and raised $300 for United Way Perth-Huron! Now, we are inviting all Perth-Huron kids and youth to take up the challenge. We hope that acts of kindness (e.g. teens shoveling driveways for seniors or helping with computer skills) and entrepreneurial activities (e.g. making custom Christmas cards, pet walking) take off across our communities.
The Noa Challenge offers a perfect alternative to spending more time on electronic devices. For youth in grades 9–12, activities can also provide community volunteer hours. We hope this challenge provides a creative outlet for children and youth, raises funds for United Way and helps support individuals and families in need right in your schools.
Coldest Night of the Year: happens on Feb 20th, 2021 in Exeter, Goderich, Listowel, St. Marys and Stratford. We hope school communities from across our region come together to help support the hungry, helpless and homeless of Perth-Huron. Look for more information to come.
Check out our 2020 campaign video for more inspiration and two people with lived experience: