This year’s United Way campaign kicked off on October 7 with free bagels being distributed on campus. Leftovers were donated to local charities.The theme this year is “The Promise We Share”. The University has set a goal of $450,000, a $15,000 increase over what it raised during last year’s campaign.
The $434,595 donated in 2007 by students, professors, staff and retired members of the University of Ottawa community was the third largest donation for United Way Ottawa and ranked first in the education sector.
Donors who pledge to increase their payroll deductions by at least one dollar per pay period this year have the chance of winning a pair of tickets to Cirque du Soleil’s Corteo and a Henri Masson lithography worth $1,000.
The United Way of Canada focuses on organizing people “to care for one another.” It funds more than 7,000 agencies and an additional 10,000 organizations through donor directed giving. All money raised during the community remains in the region to support those in need. In Ottawa, for example, nearly a third of the United Way’s funding is directed towards helping children and youth with such initiatives as homework clubs, mentoring and counselling programs.
For more information visit www.unitedway.uOttawa.ca.
