Thursday, February 4th 2010

By unknown

RACHEL HARVEY

McMaster just completed its annual United Way campaign for 2009. Although the campaign got off to a slow start, as of Tuesday Feb, 3, the McMaster University United Way campaign presented a novelty cheque to the United Way for $248,414.42, exceeding the campaign target of $225,000 by 10.4 per cent.

Last year, McMaster’s campaign raised $221,750, surpassing its $210,000 goal.

Partnering with the United Way of Burlington and Greater Hamilton, the McMaster community plays an integral role in helping the non-profit charity meet its annual financial goals. The United Way provides support to a network of local human service agencies and programs that serve the public, including Big Brothers and Big Sisters and the YMCA.

Michele Corbeil, Co-Chair of this year’s campaign, talked about the major challenge that McMaster faced with this year’s campaign, “Launching the campaign in the fall was delayed until the labour negotiations were settled in late September. The committee decided to wait, resulting in a three week delay of numerous events and administrative functions. This required some additional meetings and planning and we were able to proceed with our plans, a little later in October.”

Corbeil said that student involvement with the McMaster campaign has increased this year in two major areas. First, this year saw the addition of a student co-chair on the campaign, Brennan Reurink, who is also the MSU Fundraising Initiative Team (FIT) Coordinator. Corbeil explained that Brennan “has been successful in having the Co-Chair of the United Way Campaign integrated into the [MSU] FIT Coordinator job description. This will ensure that there will always be a student Co-Chair along with a Staff and Faculty Co-Chair”.

The second campaign “first” this year was the creation of a student United Way club. Christine Ibrahim, President of the MSU’s United Way @ Mac Club, decided to start it after hearing United Way Campaign Manager Miriam Gracey speak. “[She] gave a heart-felt talk to us about poverty in Hamilton, the social agencies helping out, and United Way’s important role in funding those agencies. We started chatting after that meeting… She told me that there was no student-run United Way club on campus, and it was unfortunate because it limited student participation, creativity and awareness about the United Way”. Ibrahim had the club ratified by the MSU, and it presently has around 50 members.

When asked about the club’s fundraising goals, Ibrahim remarked that, because they were new, their goals were two-fold. “One was to bring education and awareness to the McMaster student body about both [the] United Way and the social issues occurring in Hamilton. The second…was to aid in fundraising for the United Way.” Ibrahim explained that they did not have a set amount in terms of monetary goals, and are still working on a financial summary, with dollar amounts raised to be determined. Regardless, she claims success through increased student awareness of the campaign.

The MSU club drummed up support for the McMaster United Way campaign by holding information sessions, bake sales, and a lecture night in January featuring speakers from local service agencies. Ibrahim further adds that there will be a few more  club events for the remainder of the semester. “We still have a semester to go, so make sure to look out for our events!”

Tags: campaign, funding, michele corbeil, miriam gracey, united way