By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON October 12, 2012 The team is coming together. They’ve met often enough now to know each other reasonably well and the objective is crystal clear. Len Lifhcus, Chief Executive Officer for the combined Burlington/Hamilton United Way operation – with a campaign team in each city, makes the point, if they don’t already get it, when he says “we need an exceptional campaign to reach our target this year”.
Part of the Burlington United Way Campaign Cabinet – From the left – Brian Ferguson, Kendra, Wendy Derrick, Scott Massey, Richard Rizzo, Robyn. Tim Miron. Interesting conversation going on in the corner.
That target for the Burlington portion of the Burlington/Hamilton United Way 2013 total is $2.1 million. Everyone involved knows what they have to do – and they know that the calls have to be made and the energy maintained. All the reliable donours from past years have to be contacted, cheques picked up and thanks given for the support.
It can be a grind but for the 20 odd people who met in the United Way Board room on Harvester Road last week, it was a chance to get caught up and report on what had been done.
It’s a slightly different Campaign Cabinet – there are more younger faces in the room. Many of the people who were there Friday had either made lunches and gotten kids off to school or got a call into their office to get things moving on that side of their lives.
Burlington chair Paddy Torsney is focusing on events that will involve people. She has a number of low cost events in place. Four food trucks will gather in the United Way parking lot on Harvester Road – 3425 Harvester, east of Walkers Line 11-00 am to 2:00 pm. If you work in the area drop by and take in a Food Truck Lunch. If you expect to be driving by – pull in – there is plenty of parking space.
Participating in this event are: Gorilla Cheese,; Caplansky’s; Hank Daddy’s BBQ and The Cupcake Diner
Another date you want to note is October 28th – The Runway @ the Rude – Sunday, October 28 – 1:00pm – 4:00pm at the Rude Native Bistro & Lounge – 370 Brant Street
Fashion show accompanied by lunch, door prizes and raffles! Tickets $25 (available at all vendors – click image below to enlarge) The price is right, the United Way will benefit. I want to know who is going to walk that Runway – and what will they be wearing? Stay tuned.
The Mystery Night – event. This one is so interesting that we will cover it in a separate story.
Debra Pickfield Think Master over at ThinkSpot has been tasked with introducing small and medium sized companies to the United Way payroll deduction program, which allows employees to instruct their employers to deduct a bit of money from their pay cheque each week and automatically send the total to United Way. Many small companies add an amount to the employee portion.
Many in the small business community think that payroll deduction is for the big operations. A payroll deduction can be set up for as few as two people. The Burlington United Way hasn’t had a lot of success in getting through to the smaller businesses in the city – the Mystery Night might be just the tool to bring these people in
City General Manager Kim Phillips pulls for the United Way drive during the city hall staff outing to raise funds. If we all do this the $2.1 million target will be easily met.
The Burlington team: Hon. Paddy Torsney, Campaign Chair VP, The Capital Hill Group; Jim Frizzle, United Way Board Liaison. Retired, RBC Royal Bank; Richard Rizzo, Senior Tax Manager, SB Partners; Jamie Edwards, Broker of Records, J.M. Edwards Associates Inc.; Wendy Derrick, Owner & Director, Fern Hill School; Greg Jones, Director, Corporate Communications & Community Relations, Newalta; Tim Miron, Senior Manager, Beckett Lowden Read; Scott Massey, NPI Project Lead, L3 Wescam; Kim Phillips, General Manager, Corporate Services, City of Burlington; David Euale, Director of Education, Halton District School Board; Michael Pautler, Director of Education, Halton Catholic District School Board; Gayle Cruikshank, Executive Director, Halton Food for Thought; Brian Ferguson, Campaign Vice-Chair Senior Manager, Sourcing, VMware; Jason Lemaich, Director of Retail Sales – Ontario, Pepsico Beverages Canada.
They aren’t going to raise the $2.1 million by themselves – give them more than a helping hand – please.
