The Noa Challenge
A fifth birthday during a pandemic can be difficult, but Noa and her parents made it something special by choosing to give back to the community through United Way Perth-Huron (UWPH). Now, Noa and UWPH Campaign Co-chair Martin Ritsma are challenging youth of all ages from across Perth-Huron to take inspiration from her example and do local good.
“We were so appreciative of Noa’s generosity in helping the UWPH campaign,” said Martin Ritsma. “Her incredible spirit is an example of why our local communities are so strong. As an organization, we thought this was incredible opportunity to challenge all youth — whether they’re working on their own, with siblings, friends or classmates — to help build a culture of caring, understanding and community and support UWPH.”
From shovelling snow to writing cards for isolated seniors to doing something virtual, youth are encouraged to be creative and come up with something fun that can be done safely during the pandemic and has an impact of their community. For high school students, taking up the Noa challenge is also a chance to accumulate community service hours in a time when volunteer opportunities are hard to come by.
“This is a tremendous opportunity,” added Ritsma. “In a sense, it’s a chance to do double the good for your community. First, you can help local people in all sorts of creative ways. Second, by raising money for UWPH’s annual campaign, youth are helping us ensure vulnerable people in their communities are able to access important programs and services.”
The Noa Challenge was born out of one little girl’s entrepreneurial spirit. Noa first asked for a stand to sell smoothies so she could buy something special for her birthday back in August. After some thought, and taking into account the extra challenges presented during the pandemic, Noa’s mom and dad came up with a solution; selling individually-wrapped popsicles from a stand in their front yard. After a successful first day, and a one-day extension, Noa raised $300 to donate to UWPH.
Thanks to the generosity of donors like Noa from across Perth-Huron, last year over 34,000 people had the chance for a brighter future. More recently, UWPH created an Urgent Needs Fund to support local residents in a time of immediate crisis with funds for essentials like rent, groceries and medication; helping prevent homelessness, assisting people in continuing to work and ensuring children don’t go hungry. Since its introduction in May, 2020, the fund has helped ease the burden of over 650 people across Perth and Huron.
“We’re grateful for the effort Noa put into her popsicle stand,” added UWPH Executive Director Ryan Erb. “We’re also excited to see what other youth come up with in the days and weeks to come. We encourage everyone who takes up the Noa Challenge to get in touch with UWPH at info@perthhuron.unitedway.ca so we can tell Perth-Huron about the amazing things our kids are doing to help their communities.”