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Veggies for Vets

United Way for the City of Kawartha Lakes is coming into the final legs of its year-long Veggies for Vets project: a Community Garden and social inclusion initiative which aims to increase the availability of fresh produce and physical activity for seniors, while also offering social media and technology workshops to aid in social connections. This project is funded in part by the Government of Canada’s New Horizon for Seniors Program which provides grants for projects that make a difference in the lives of seniors and in their communities. The United Way’s holistic approach of combining physical and social wellbeing activities both lowers nutritional risk for seniors, and increases social participation which has its own multitude of benefits. (Statistics Canada: Physical and Mental Health)

“Overall, we are very proud of the impact our project has created,” said Project Manager, Elly Millington. “We have seen huge growth in attendance at our technology workshops, and the garden outreach has been spectacular. Our original goal was to connect with a few Legions in our area so that we may create mutually beneficial relationships: providing them with garden beds to offer physical activity to those who tend the gardens, while simultaneously offering technology workshops to improve social inclusion among participants. We were successful in not only connecting with four Legions in our area, but we also partnered with Food Banks, Food Centres, Community Kitchens, and community agencies to expand our reach and continue the project when funding ends. What we’ve found is that people are very receptive to working on food security in their neighbourhoods, and more and more people are wanting to spend time outdoors growing their own food.”

Along with growing their own food, an increasing number of seniors are participating in social media: most see it as a way to connect with their friends, family members, and younger generations. Many of the seniors taking classes want to learn, but simply do not know where to begin. That’s where Workshop Facilitator Josh Webster steps in:

“A lot of the seniors taking our classes don’t know what they don’t know,” said Workshop Facilitator, Josh Webster. “So, we start at the beginning. We are able to walk them through the basics of something simple like taking a photo from their cellphone and putting it onto their laptop to then sort into files or post online. These skills allow them to better participate in the growing world of social media and technology, hopefully lessening the risk of becoming a social recluse, especially for those living in rural areas.”

Through the Veggies for Vets project, United Way for the City of Kawartha Lakes was able to partner with Community Care who have a vast reach to people who are interested in learning more about the technology they use in their everyday lives. Technology workshops will continue to run every Wednesday until March 13th, 2019 at the Lindsay Legion from 1-3pm, and will cover a wide array of topics from learning to copy and paste, to online security and staying safe when using online banking or social media. Anyone interested in more information or signing up for workshops should contact Elly Millington, Projects and Communications Coordinator at the United Way for the City of Kawartha Lakes: 705-878-5081.

January-February Tech Workshop Series

Research

The World Health Organization defines good health as “not merely an absence of illness or infirmity, but a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing” (Statistics Canada, Seniors and Health)
34% of Canadians aged 65 and up are at nutritional risk, meaning they have gained or lost more than 10 pounds in the past six months, and skip meals regularly. (Statistics Canada, One-third at Risk)
Living alone, infrequent social participation and low social support all remain significantly associated with nutritional risk when demographic factors and mental and physical well-being are taken into account. (Statistics Canada, Socio-economic and Social Circumstances)
Gardening is the second most popular physical activity in Canada, attracting 72% of Canadian adults; physical activity reduces the risk of premature death, heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, adult-onset diabetes, osteoporosis, stroke, depression and cancer. (FoodShare.net, Community Gardening 101)

By cklunitedway|2019-02-11T14:11:48-05:00February 4th, 2019|Senior program|Comments Off

United Way for the City of Kawartha Lakes Curling FunSpiel Registration

The United Way for the City of Kawartha Lakes Curling Funspiel will take place on March 9th, 2019. Registration for teams is now open! Contact our Community Investment Coordinator for more information!

Ready to sign up? Fill out the United Way FUN Bonspiel Registration Form

By cklunitedway|2019-02-21T12:13:11-05:00December 14th, 2018|Funding Application, United Way Bursaries|Comments Off

Workplace Support

How does your workplace support United Way CKL?

Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington (PVNC) Catholic District School Board is proud to support United Way CKL fundraising at St. John Paul II, St. Dominic, St. Mary and St. Luke Catholic elementary schools and St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Secondary School. Our staff organize special fundraisers at the schools and give generously through payroll deductions. Our Director of Education Michael Nasello also raffles himself off each year as an incentive for United Way fundraising, giving a lucky PVNC employee a day off while he does their job for the day.

Why do you support the United Way CKL?

As a learning organization committed to the key principles of Catholic Social Teaching and to moving our faith into action, we are proud to support four United Way campaigns in our jurisdiction including United Way CKL. We know that some of our students and their families rely on the many services supported by the United Way. Our educators and support staff care deeply about the wellbeing of our students, both in school and out, so many find it a source of pride to contribute to the United Way.

What would you say to inspire other workplaces to support United Way CKL?

At PVNC, the annual United Way campaign is an opportunity to reflect on the challenges in our communities that can be barriers to student success and well-being. The campaign provides an opportunity for staff to make a meaningful contribution. As an organization, the campaign offers a great opportunity for team-building as school communities and staff at the Board office rally together for a common cause.

By cklunitedway|2019-01-20T12:05:16-05:00November 16th, 2018|CKL - United Way, Fundraisers, Support, Workplace|Comments Off

30th Annual Crayola Sale Cheque Presentation

2018 Crayola Cheque Presentation

On Friday, November 2nd 2018, a group of United Way for the City of Kawartha Lakes Staff, Board members and volunteers met at the Crayola Canada factory to be presented with a cheque from the 30th Annual Crayola Sale. The sale is held every year at the Lindsay Exhibition Fairgrounds (LEX) and attracts shoppers from all over the province; some shoppers even travel from the United States. The sale creates both local and global impacts as several attendees return each year to purchase Crayola products for mission trips to Mexico, Cuba and even Zimbabwe! Other attendees purchase goods for Holiday presents, or as supplies for classrooms.

Last year, the team at Crayola Canada set a goal of raising $40,000 to reach a total of $1,000,000 donated to the United Way for the City of Kawartha Lakes over 29 years. This goal was exceeded in 2017, and the success was continued this year with another $42,620.80 raised. United Way will use these funds to continue implementing their vision statement of crafting human care agendas within and across our communities, building coalitions around these agendas and increasing investments in these agendas by expanding and diversifying resource development. The staff, board members and volunteers at United Way work tirelessly to ensure that these investments have recognizable impacts, and extend their thanks to Crayola for leading the way for other businesses to invest in our community.

2018 thank you sign, cake, certificate and balloons.

Crayola Canada believes that every person in the community deserves an opportunity for a quality and colourful life: “We are very fortunate that the annual Crayola Sale can assist children, youth, and adults in the City of Kawartha Lakes. The sale started simply as a yard sale with a few Crayola products added in. It was the beginning of a long-term relationship and, thanks to the efforts of countless volunteers from Crayola, the UWCKL, and the community, it has grown to its current form.”

Penny Barton Dyke, Executive Director of the United Way for the City of Kawartha Lakes shares her gratitude: “30 years! Leadership, dedication and commitment by the Crayola Canada company and its employees has meant thousands of children, families and individuals have been able to access critical programs that help them in real time. Our campaign this year is about inspiring others to give and develop workplace campaigns. Crayola and its team of employees are leaders in the truest fashion. Their legacy has been and will now continue to be about their commitment to our families and this community. Now with its latest gift of land use, Crayola is once again leading the way by embarking on a new way of investing in people: a true community champion.”

United Way for the City of Kawartha Lakes is grateful for their partnership with the Crayola Canada team and have recently launched an exciting development in this partnership. In 2019, Crayola Canada, Fleming College and United Way CKL will partner to develop 30,000 sq. ft. of unused land on the lot adjacent to the Crayola building into their largest Community Garden. Some of the funds raised at the 30th Annual Crayola Sale will go towards this Community Garden project, which will have the capacity to provide fresh produce to hundreds of people in the City of Kawartha Lakes.

2018 Crayola Staff Thank You

By cklunitedway|2019-01-20T12:06:08-05:00November 2nd, 2018|Campaign, Community Gardens, Crayola Sale|Comments Off

Crayola Canada—United Way CKL Community Garden Ground Breaking

United Way for the City of Kawartha Lakes is embarking on a very exciting new Community Garden project in partnership with Crayola Canada, Fleming College Frost Campus, and Bob Mark New Holland. We have entered into a land use agreement to turn the 30,000 sq. ft. of unused land at Crayola Canada into our largest ever Community Garden! This garden will enhance the availability of fresh produce for programs such as the Good Food Box, collective kitchens, Meals on Wheels, cooking classes, food banks, and food cupboards. Fleming College will provide expertise, while also offering students unique learning opportunities through school projects and volunteering. Bob Mark New Holland will provide equipment and expertise as they volunteered to do our first ground breaking in October of 2018.

The community garden will be a closed space, fenced in and locked, with access limited to staff and volunteers from United Way and Fleming College, as well as agencies involved in the programming.
Community gardens yield more than food, they also provide many teaching opportunities and draw people together to help strengthen our neighbourhoods.

See below for some pictures of our first ground breaking, on Monday October 15th, 2018.

The First Ground Breaking – Group Shot

By cklunitedway|2019-01-20T12:01:51-05:00October 15th, 2018|CKL - United Way, Community Gardens, Crayola Sale, News|Comments Off

Telecare Mona Hall Legacy Fund

The Crayola Sale is almost here!

As Saturday, October 13th moves closer, plans for the 30th Annual Crayola Sale are well under way. This is an exciting event as last year, the team at Crayola achieved their goal of donating more than $1,000,000 to the United Way for the City of Kawartha Lakes from the past 29 years of the sale.

Crayola Canada employees volunteer their time to help run the Sale and are also heavily reliant on help from the United Way for the City of Kawartha Lakes and other dedicated volunteers. These employees and volunteers donate their time to help set up, run, and clean up after the event.

Crayola’s team is very enthusiastic about participating in this year’s sale. One Crayola Canada staff member expressed her pride: “United Way offers support to such a wide variety of people in a wide variety of ways especially the most vulnerable within our community. It’s good to know I contribute a tiny bit towards that.”

The excitement is in the air every year at the sale, another Crayola employee said

“I love to walk the line before people enter the building. They are always so excited. It’s great to hear what they are hoping to find and knowing what’s inside you can give them a bit of a head start as to where to look. It’s the energy of the line that truly gets me motivated for the event.”

Crayola Canada believes that every person in the community deserves an opportunity for a quality and colourful life:

“We are very fortunate that the annual Crayola Sale can assist children, youth, and adults in the City of Kawartha Lakes. The sale started simply as a yard sale with a few Crayola products added in. It was the beginning of a long-term relationship and, thanks to the efforts of countless volunteers from Crayola, the UWCKL, and the community, it has grown to its current form.”

The impact that the sale creates is both local and global. Several attendees return each year to purchase Crayola products for mission trips, some people going to Mexico and Cuba or even Zimbabwe! Other attendees purchase goods for Holiday presents, or as supplies for classrooms.

United Way is extremely grateful for their partnership with the Crayola Canada team and have recently launched an exciting development in this partnership. In 2019, Crayola Canada, Fleming College and United Way CKL will partner to develop 30,000 sq. ft. of unused land on the lot adjacent to the Crayola building into their largest Community Garden. Some of the funds raised at the 30th Annual Crayola Sale will go towards this Community Garden project, which will have the capacity to provide fresh produce to hundreds of people in the City of Kawartha Lakes.

The sale will take place on Saturday, October 13th from 8am-12pm at the Lindsay Exhibition Fairgrounds and is open to the public. All purchases at the sale must be made in cash.

By cklunitedway|2019-01-20T12:10:38-05:00October 3rd, 2018|community, Crayola Sale, News|Comments Off

Share Your Story – Inspire Other Workplace Campaigns

Tell us about your workplace’s United Way Campaign!

Our campaign vision: to inspire one another to give, mentor and strengthen support of UWCKL’s community investments and our funded agencies.

We have amazing Individual donors and workplace donors. Throughout the year we will continue to connect and thank them for their ongoing support.

This campaign will feature workplaces.

Goal: capture messages from workplaces that include:

How they participate—payroll/chili or soup cook-offs/ special events internally, (sharing ideas with other workplaces will inspire new ideas)
Customer and/or employee loyalty
Company-team building
Some workplaces designate to projects—i.e. community gardens, bonspiel event, bursary programs -(great dual branding and commitment & passion for a project)
Celebrate with partners their stories and milestones: Crayola Canada will be hosting its 30th annual sale and has raised in total over $1 million
Hear the stories and inspire others to join us in helping more than 30,000 people (90% of Canadians will access a United Way funded program in their lifetime)

We want to celebrate your workplace and all that you do to support the community! Send us your workplace campaign stories and pictures and we will share them on our website and social media. Help inspire other workplaces to get involved by sharing what you are most proud of about your workplace campaign.

Visit our Workplace Campaign Profile page to read about companies that are giving.

By cklunitedway|2019-01-20T12:11:30-05:00October 1st, 2018|Campaign, Uncategorized, Workplace|Comments Off

Can you imagine a garden here?!

Next spring there will be!

United Way has been working on food security initiatives for many years. We manage 40 community garden plots and have helped to build over 70 more plots throughout City of Kawartha Lakes and Haliburton. One of our goals is to increase the yields of fresh produce to use through the good food box program, collective kitchens, Meals on Wheels, cooking classes, food banks and food cupboards.

Crayola Canada is a proud supporter of the United Way for the City of Kawartha Lakes. They are always looking for ways to further support our United Way. On their property they have 30,000 square feet of unused land. They believe that this land should be used to benefit the community. Crayola has entered into a land use agreement with United Way for the City of Kawartha Lakes. This land will be used for large scale gardening and harvesting of produce to benefit the community.

Fleming College is also part of this groundbreaking project. For many years, Fleming College has been a community partner on several initiatives with the United Way and some of its funded agencies. They will be providing equipment and expertise to assist with this food security initiative. This project will also offer their students unique learning opportunities through school projects, volunteering, placements and paid internships.

The United Way for the City of Kawartha Lakes is grateful to Crayola for the use of this land which will be used to grow food and provide learning opportunities for students at all levels. Thank you to Fleming College for their dedication to this project, as they helped us with our initial strategic planning. Thank you also to Roger Hill from Hill’s Florist and Greenhouse who created preliminary designs for the space.

This social innovation garden project will enhance the availability of fresh produce for programs such as the Good Food Box, collective kitchens, Meals on Wheels, cooking classes, food banks, food cupboards and the Kawartha Lakes Food Source. This project is a true testament to what is possible when we come together as a community.

This fall the ground will be ploughed in preparation for planting in the spring!

By cklunitedway|2019-01-20T12:12:17-05:00September 21st, 2018|community, Community Gardens, Crayola Sale, Garden Days|Comments Off

United Way CKL Kicks Off its 2018/2019 Campaign

The United Way for the City of Kawartha Lakes kicked off its campaign at Smitty’s Restaurant today by announcing that Police Chief Mark Mitchell of the Kawartha Lakes Police Services will be the 2018-2019 Campaign Chairperson. Traditional support through donors, workplaces and volunteers continues to be critical to the United Way’s campaign. Sheila O’Connell, Supply Chain Manager at Crayola Canada and Brett Goodwin, Dean and Principal of Fleming College’s Frost Campus helped to reveal a partnership that will increase support for UWCKL’s food security work. 30,000 square feet of vacant land at Crayola Canada will be developed with the help of Fleming staff and students. This social innovation garden project will enhance the availability of fresh produce for programs such as the Good Food Box, collective kitchens, meals on wheels, cooking classes, food banks, food cupboards and the Kawartha Lakes Food Source.

Chief Mitchell noted that donors, volunteers and partnerships are key to developing consistent funding for vital programs, “The City of Kawartha Lakes is a wonderfully vibrant community, but there are those within this community who need our help. Whether it is in times of emergency or those dealing with chronic issues, the United Way is there with a variety of services to meet those needs. Those services are delivered by agencies and United Way, but it is our donors, however, who make it all happen. It’s how we show that we care.”
“We are extremely grateful to Chief Mitchell for his leadership. We promised the Chief this will be a great learning journey on how we can change and enhance lives across our rural communities. Today’s launch showcases the breadth of our past and present work. We have invested more than $65,000 in bursaries to high school students since 2002 and having Morgan Watson, a past bursary recipient, share her journey into education and a job is wonderful,” said Penny Barton Dyke, Executive Director of UWCKL.

Going forward, Shantal Ingram, Community Investment Coordinator for UWCKL added,

“This is a year to inspire one another to give, mentor people and strengthen our support. Every year, hundreds of volunteers organize their campaigns with colleagues to raise funds through payroll deduction, lunches, chili cook offs, school assemblies, sports events, and even job exchanges with management and staff. Please know that your efforts and commitment inspire and bring hope to our community partners and agencies as we grow investment into quality programs and projects. We will be featuring these workplaces and teams to say thank you throughout the year.”

Duncan Gallacher, Board President of UWCKL, spoke about the growth of partnerships and the development of programs that address changing needs. “Since 2005, we have increased our social investment to not only include agencies and their programs, but we have also raised specific funds for community development projects. United Way has invested over $7 million in agency programs since 1986 and $1 million has been invested in community projects that help with food security, job and educational skills building, housing and youth. Our critical path forward is to continue to build strong partnerships with our local businesses. Crayola, Fleming College, and Hills Florist, along with several agencies and investors, shared the dream of expanding our community gardens and creating practical educational experiences for our youth. Our announcement on the land use agreement with Crayola is truly exciting! We have also created, with Community Living Trent Highlands, new garden plots in Haliburton through a Day of Caring. Women United also provided funds for a greenhouse at their Haliburton location. We worked with about 10 agencies this summer to create a Brown Bag Lunch program and comprehensive job readiness programs to King Albert Public School as a pilot hub delivery model. This is how, as a community, we should come together in planning and delivering support,” said Mr. Gallacher.

By cklunitedway|2019-01-20T12:13:18-05:00September 13th, 2018|Campaign, Kickoff, News|Comments Off

News

Research

*RECENTLY UPDATED* Important Dates

Next spring there will be!

RECENTLY UPDATED Important Dates