Table of Contents
- Choose to be kind Ottawa
- It's awards time!
- Suited for Success
- Sharing our Strengths Community Conference: Do you have something to share?
- C3 Centre: A place to connect, collaborate and create
- uOttawa – celebrating volunteers
- From little contributions to leadership donor: Jennifer Radford
Choose to be kind Ottawa
They say the third time’s the charm. But for Kindness Week Ottawa — now in its third year — every year has struck a chord with residents across the city.
From the beginning, people from all backgrounds and age groups, businesses, schools, retailers, organizations, media and even members of Ottawa’s finest, the Ottawa Police Service, have embraced the idea of contributing to “a kind Ottawa.” This week is the brainchild of Rabbi Reuven Bulka, who wanted to encourage the kindness that is and the kindness that can be.
Kindness Week is so popular that, beyond attracting more and more interest locally, it has now gone provincial, with communities across Ontario choosing to be kind.
From February 12-19, the Kindness Crew will be out in full force warming up the city. Look for their orange toques! Watch for the Kindness Week Bus Crew, as they help serve lunch to seniors, sort food donations and demonstrate other acts of kindness throughout our community. Visit one of the participating retailers to get your very own Kindness Card, then do a kind act for someone and share the card with them. If you receive a card, keep the cycle going by paying the kindness forward and passing on the card. You can also nominate a fellow employee or volunteer who you believe deserves special recognition for kindness. Make sure you visit KindOttawa.ca often during the week to learn about and sign up for daily Kindness Challenges.
For schools, there is a downloadable education toolkit that includes lesson plans and suggestions for activities. A one-page primer is available to help workplaces promote and achieve kindness. And, there are also downloadable banners, posters and cards.
Choose to be kind — it’s never been easier. Check out www.kindottawa.ca for everything you need to know about 2010 Kindness Week. Kindness Week is coordinated by United Way Ottawa.
It's awards time!
Be recognized as an Employer of Excellence
Do you:
Employ skilled immigrants?
Promote a diversified workplace?
Create an environment where everyone feels included?
If you are an employer of excellence, then here’s a chance to let your community know. Nominate your organization for the 2010 Employer of Excellence Awards presented by Hire Immigrants Ottawa (HIO).
Each year, HIO showcases leading employers in the Ottawa area who recruit and retain skilled immigrants. Join this exclusive group today and receive the public exposure you deserve.
Visit hireimmigrantsottawa.ca today and download an application form.
The Employer of Excellence Awards will be presented on March 24 at the National Arts Centre.
HIO is a United Way initiative funded by the Government of Ontario and Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
Suited for Success
Applying for jobs and attending interviews can sure be stressful. Imagine preparing for an important job interview and not having a clean or well-fitting suit to wear on your big day.
Enter Funk Your Junk, a boutique that sells gently-used clothing and accessories. Owners Henri Groulx and Angie Auchterlonie understand the value of being dressed appropriately for that big interview. They also know that not everyone in Ottawa has the means to make it happen. Their newly-developed Suited for Success program provides — at no cost — business suits to help men and women “shine” at job interviews. The program launches as a one-year pilot during Kindness Week (February 12-19).
“Being well-dressed in a business suit for a job interview makes you feel more confident,” says Angie. “With help from United Way Ottawa, we are giving some of Ottawa’s most vulnerable people an extra dose of confidence for what could potentially be a life-changing experience.”
When this duo was looking for people they could help through this program, they approached United Way, which helped to put all the pieces together.
“United Way is one of the most connected organizations in this city,” says Henri. “It introduced us to LASI World Skills, an organization that responds to the needs of the local labour market while promoting the skills and talents of new Canadians and immigrants. LASI’s role in our community made them a natural partner for this program.”
“When you have private citizens like Angie and Henri and organizations such as United Way and World Skills coming together to help newcomers succeed you create a welcoming community at its best,” says Mengistab Tsegaye, Executive Director, LASI World Skills. “We are extremely proud to be part of this initiative.”
In addition to United Way and LASI World Skills, Funk Your Junk has established a relationship with Hillary Cleaners, which will dryclean and hem donated suits.
Need a suit?
If you need a suit and want to find out how to qualify for the Suited for Success program, call Funk Your Junk at 613-591-3530.
Donate a suit?
If you have a business suit for either gender that you would like to donate, drop it off at Funk Your Junk, located at 101-125 Somerset Street West. You can e-mail Junky@funkyourjunk.com.
Sharing our Strengths Community Conference: Do you have something to share?
Nine years of sharing strengths make for a big impact in our community. Once again, United Way Ottawa is hosting the annual Sharing our Strengths Community Conference that helps community leaders, staff and volunteers from non-profit organizations become more effective at managing and delivering programs and services in the community.
The call for papers for the Conference is open now – review the requirements and submit an abstract here. To keep costs low, speakers are invited to present at no cost.
The conference takes place on June 29 at Ashbury College, 362 Mariposa Avenue, Ottawa. The day’s lineup includes a breakfast and keynote presentation at 8:30 a.m., a lunch and marketplace from noon until 1:30 p.m., and morning and afternoon workshops.
The workshops are offered in five streams: leadership and governance, operational effectiveness, financial sustainability, strengthening community impact and personal development. Topics will provide opportunities for participants to learn about innovative models of practice and new project initiatives.
C3 Centre: A place to connect, collaborate and create
Set to open this coming spring, the C3 Centre is a space with a big vision for the community — to enable organizations to more easily and cost-effectively connect, collaborate and create.
Located in Ottawa’s east end, adjacent to United Way Ottawa’s offices on Coventry Road, the Centre will soon house several organizations serving the voluntary, non-profit sector. Volunteer Ottawa, Leadership Ottawa and the Ottawa Chamber for Voluntary Organizations, the first to move into the Centre, have partnered with United Way to develop an overall vision to support this sector – with a focus on what can be achieved together.
Community space in the form of meeting rooms, a resource centre/library and boardroom will be available for other community groups and non-profit organizations to use.
With the ability to share resources, the C3 Centre makes it possible for like-minded organizations to innovate and grow together.
Construction is under way, with an anticipated move-in date of June 2010. A grand opening in the fall will showcase the Centre to the general public.
If your organization is looking for space that offers more than just four walls, contact us today for more information about how you can be part of this exciting initiative.
uOttawa – celebrating volunteers
“This year’s campaign was a great success — the best ever — and at our volunteer reception on January 14, people were already discussing the 2010 campaign,” says Lyse Piché, Campaign Coordinator and uOttawa Loaned Representative.
uOttawa recruited more than 85 volunteers to its campaign last year -- many of whom were alumni and had longstanding involvement in the campaign.
Under the leadership of the two co-chairs, Sylvain Chalut and Jeff Keshen, on- and off-campus volunteers launched new events to create interest and engage participation in the campaign, resulting in tremendous team-building and team spirit.
One event involved the abduction for ransom of the dean of the Faculty of Engineering and his administrative staff. Not to be outdone, four other faculties launched the "Ruin your Dean" event, which had deans match the donations of their faculty employees. Students also played a part, with five student groups organizing various events across campus.
From little contributions to leadership donor: Jennifer Radford
For Jennifer Radford, “it’s the little things that make a difference for others.” But Jennifer’s charitable contributions add up to a whole lot of difference, here and around the world.
A partner at Borden Ladner Gervais (BLG) who specializes in health and insurance litigation, Jennifer believes strongly in giving back. Along with giving to Ottawa hospital foundations every single year, she supports a six-year-old foster child, Erik, from Guatemala through World Vision. Last year, she donated eight inches of her hair to the Pantene Beautiful Lengths Program, which makes wigs from real hair to give to cancer patients.
Jennifer is also a huge supporter of United Way Ottawa and the work it is doing in the community. She became a leadership donor in 2008 after being asked personally to do so by colleague Jack Hughes. “I was motivated and inspired by him, and thought that if he can be a leadership donor, then so can I,” she says.
In 2009, she took over BLG’s workplace campaign from Jack and, like Jack, made the ‘personal ask’ a centrepiece of the campaign. Morning e-mails informing people at the firm how donations are spent in the community gave tangibility to United Way’s work.
The strategy worked. Thirteen new leadership donors brought the number of leadership donors to 53. 2009 campaign participation was 79 per cent and $127,503 was raised (up from $109,000 in 2008).
“I am so proud to work at a place like this where people rise above and beyond to help others through a difficult economic time,” she adds.
If you would like more information on becoming a leadership donor, you can contact Melissa Graham, Manager, Leadership Gifts, at 613-683-3786 or by e-mail at mgraham@unitedwayottawa.ca.