The 2020 Communithon exceeded their goal on air on Friday, reaching $206,431 before going off the air at 11 p.m. Executive members, volunteers and community agencies were overjoyed at the fact that the goal was exceeded while still on air. The goal for the 2020 Communithon was $82,020.
From recollections of volunteers who have assisted with Communithon for a number of years, it has been at least seven years since the last time Communithon met or exceeded their goal while on the air.
The main reason that Communithon exceeded the goal this year was because of a large bequest from the Charles Henderson Estate, which was announced by Wanda Miller, chair of the Communithon committee.
“Our community came forward, as they always have in the past, and donated to the community. We were on our way to reach our goal, as this bequest really put us over the top,” she said.
“It was just a wonderful surprise. It was a well-earned donation for our community agencies and their services. I am still speechless, that the family put so much forward as a donation in memorial of their loved one,” said Miller.
“We don’t know a lot about Mr. Henderson, but we are starting to learn a little bit. We have heard that he was a quiet person who had attended Communithon in the past, and must have loved the event to give such a generous donation.”
“People in Weyburn and area definitely do have a commitment to the Communithon. There are so many people who have performed or volunteered to the event in the past, and unfortunately who have passed. We had a few examples this year, with Blaize Messer, Jim Brown, Jackie Hudson and Melvina Trumpour. We really appreciate these people who had a love of the Communithon, and the love of the community,” said Miller.
With a live fundraiser, there were definitely adjustments made to the Communithon entertainment schedule throughout the day, sometimes because of a technical difficulty with a submitted video, or to place entertainment into a different timeslot, depending on how it had to fit into the timeframe of the day.
“I think that Communithon went very well this year. We certainly were a little concerned about not having an audience this year and how it would impact the day,” said Miller. “The entertainment committee and AccessNow TV all worked together on the combination of pre-recorded and live music. The flow of entertainment was quite nice.”
“We had heard some really great comments, of how the presentation of the performances went (viewed from home), and that they found it very easy. We definitely heard that people missed coming down from the Legion to watch the fundraiser,” said Miller.
The Communithon committee works in partnership with AccessNow TV as the broadcast partner, Cleo Coderre from Music Craft for sound, the Weyburn Legion as the facility host, and United Way Regina who provides the charitable receipt for all donations.
“Our partners do very well, they just walk in and set themselves up. This is something that because there is a group who has volunteered for a long time, you can really see that during the event how the coordination works very nicely. They complement each other and you see a nice show behind the scenes,” said Miller.
The Communithon committee will be meeting for a debrief meeting to discuss what went well, and what needs improvement for next year. “There are things that went really well, great opportunities that we have acted on, and a chance for us to learn what we can do better,” said Miller.
In November, the allocations committee will meet to discuss how the funds that were raised during Communithon will be allocated to the 11 community agencies, which will support their programs and services.
The community agencies that will receive funds this year include: Big Brothers Big Sisters Weyburn, Canadian Mental Health Association – Weyburn Branch, Canadian Red Cross, Community Low Income Centre, CNIB Foundation, Envision Counselling and Support Centre, Inclusion Weyburn, Spinal Cord Injury Saskatchewan, Weyburn Care-a-Van, Weyburn Special Care Home and the Weyburn Youth Centre.
“The allocation committee is made up of community members who are not associated with any of the community agencies, because they allocate the funds once United Way Regina determines what that is,” said Miller. It is important to note that donations to Communithon are still being accepted. For anyone who needs to mail in their pledge, the United Way Regina address is listed on the Communithon website at www.communithon.com.
Then in January 2021, the Communithon committee will come back together and take the information they learned from the debrief meeting to start off the planning for the 2021 Communithon. “This is the year that there is a transition of executive. In my role as chair I will move to past-chair, and our current vice-chair Korryn Kubashek will move up to the chair role,” said Miller. “We will be looking for a new vice chair, and there is potential of another position with the secretary role.”
“We will also look at all of our committees, and secure chairs for all our committees for the next year.” The meeting date in January will be announced to the public, once it has been determined.
Miller also noted that this year the Communithon committee will prepare a final report, where they will present all the information about how the year went, about the 11 community agencies, and the final amount that was raised for 2020.
