In the News
November 31, 2013
KINGSTON – In an address to the volunteers at Friday morning’s United Way campaign touchdown breakfast, MPP John Gerretsen said there is a “very generous and compassionate group of people that live in this part of the country” that allows the United Way to raise so much money each year.
Even though we live in an affluent society, there are always people in need, he said. “You are making their life just a little bit better.”
He praised “the dedication and hard work” of the campaign volunteers.
“I know it’s tough to raise money. You don’t like to go up to your fellow co-worker and say give me a dollar. You are doing it for the betterment of mankind.”
Mayor Mark Gerretsen said companies looking to set up shop in Kingston always want to know more about the quality of life in the city.
“That quality of life is a result of all of you in this room,” he told the volunteers. “The City of Kingston and the Province of Ontario and the federal government of Canada could never deliver what you deliver though the work that you do to bring money to the United Way so that money can be redistributed through our community.”
He encouraged more companies to match their employees’ donations.
“That’s the kind of thing that drives people to donate. I know it encourages me to donate a little bit more when I have the opportunity. And that will ultimately bring more money back to our community.”
Tanis Fairley, a retired school principal and member of the boards of both Lunch By George and the Food Sharing Project, said the United Way only has to spend 12% on administration costs, thanks to the volunteers’ work. The average for not-for-profits in Canada is 35%.
She told the volunteers of a stop by the Seeing Is Believing tour at Lunch By George in the upstairs hall at St. George’s Cathedral.
The tour members had gathered to look over the operation when their organizer told the clients present the onlookers were from the United Way. One man stood up to offer them his thanks for providing his meal.
“And every client in the program stood up and clapped, gave a standing ovation to the people on the tour. So those thank-yous, I hope, are representative of the people you are supporting in the community,” Fairley said.
Source: Micheal Lea, The Kingston Whig-Standard
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