The United Way Estevan is looking for events that it can support in the community through its community impact committee.
Speaking at the organization’s annual general meeting on March 28, committee members Becca Foord and Roberta DeRosier chronicled the committee’s background and how it will work moving forward.
The United Way has had a community impact committee for some time, and it has backed a number of initiatives, including the Hillcrest School Breakfast Club and the United Way’s Day of Caring. It also supported the Challenge Day held at Estevan Comprehensive School from 2012 to 2015.
“Anybody I’ve talked to who has been involved with Challenge Day has said that it was life-changing for them, and it affected them in such a positive way, so it was really important that we helped with it,” said Foord.
But now the United Way has decided to renew its focus with community impact, because it believes this is something the community needs.
“It’s something that we, as a United Way board, can help better our community by,” said Foord.
DeRosier noted the United Way has evolved. The telethon started small in 1977 in the showroom of the former Trout Chevrolet-Oldsmobile dealership building. For many years, the United Way had the telethon. But a few years ago, the organization went through strategic planning to determine the needs of the city, and how the United Way can help Estevan beyond the telethon.
Now it’s moving forward with its community impact fund.
“We’ve polled people in Estevan,” said DeRosier. “We literally went to the police station and city hall, and we talked to a lot of people, and we wanted to know what they think the needs in the community are.”
The member agencies do a great job of meeting the needs of the community, she said, but there are some gaps, so the focus of the community impact committee will be on events.
“These events will meet other needs in our community,” said DeRosier. “These events are going to align with our focus that United Way stands for already.”
Three focus areas have been identified, Foord said. One is called from poverty to possibility. There is also one for healthy people and strong communities, and a third for helping children reach their potential.
“These are very wide-open, focused areas,” said Foord. “You can put a lot towards them. Once you read the application, you’ll understand what the idea behind these focus areas is. Our application is quite a few pages, but it’s quite simple. It asks some good questions, and they’re quite easy to answer.”
She said it’s similar to the application that member agencies fill out every year.
DeRosier told the member agency representatives in attendance that they won’t be eligible for community impact funding, but she said the committee needs the member agencies’ help by talking to people they know, sharing information on social media, distributing applications and getting the word out.
“We’re pumped about this,” DeRosier said. “This will make some changes in Estevan in some very key areas.”
A copy of the application form can be found on the United Way’s website.
