A longtime Winnipeg community advocate is getting a sweet reward for her years of hard work.
Marion Willis, founder and director of St. Boniface Street Links — a local organization aimed at ending homelessness — is one of five Canadian women being highlighted on a Hershey’s chocolate bar as part of the candy company’s #HerSHE campaign for International Women’s Day.
Willis, also the founder of Morberg House, a transitional residence for men with addiction and mental health challenges, told Global News she was pleasantly surprised to learn she was selected by Hershey.
“I certainly gave the email a second read when I got it. I’m honoured,” she said.
“I think it really speaks to the work of St. Boniface Street Links and the success of Morberg House.
“It’s really quite rewarding to know that we’ve actually developed such a good national profile that we would even be on the Hershey radar as an organization — and myself as the leader of that organization.”
Willis joins three activists and community advocates from Toronto and one from Calgary on the bars, which are part of an ongoing campaign by Hershey’s that began in India in 2020.
Although the chocolate bars aren’t for sale to the public, Willis will be receiving a box to share with family and friends, and she’s still deciding how to properly preserve her chocolate spotlight moment.
“I’ll probably frame one and try not to hang it in the sun,” she said.
“I’m going to be sure that the Morberg family actually receives one of those chocolate bars and will find a way to put that chocolate bar and the letter I received from Hershey’s in some kind of a frame package.”
International Women’s Day is March 8.
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