United Way BC hosted its inaugural United Way BC Day in communities across the province on Tuesday, to mark the start of its fall fundraising campaign, including Kelowna, where the goal was to raise donations for ongoing wildfire relief for those in West Kelowna.
“The fundraising campaign is really to support our community investments, so that can look like things such as child care, mental health supports, food security, but specifically today we’re focusing on emergency response and focusing on the wildfires in West Kelowna,” said United Way regional coordinator, Naomi Woodland.
After facing one of the worst wildfire seasons on record, many residents in West Kelowna are dealing with the aftermath. Woodland says difficult times are ahead for many in that community, but ensures United Way is there to help.
“People are really struggling to afford food right now, to purchase clothing, Christmas gifts, and just kind of the normal events that we have as families such as Thanksgiving coming up. Things are going to look a lot different for a lot of families in these communities,” said Woodland.
“The money that is raised goes directly into non-profits and charities in the community.”
One non-profit organization in West Kelowna that has benefitted from United Way is the Westbank Salvation Army. One way the Salvation Arm supports its community, is through their senior meals program, which is completely dependent on grants.
When their funding ran out just before the McDougall Creek wildfire sparked near West Kelowna, that’s when United Way stepped in to help.
“Naomi from United Way reached out and said, ‘what are some of the unmet needs,’ this was on day two of the evacuations, and we were able to identify that there were a lot of seniors displaced by the fires or stuck at home because of the smoke,” said Salvation Army pastor, Jennifer Henson.
“The United Way committed funding to restart our seniors’ meals program and within 72 hours, seniors had meals delivered directly to their door, a wellness check, nutritious meals suitable to their dietary needs, and it was because of the initiative United Way took to reach out and say how can we help.”
Henson says she’s grateful for the support of United Way, especially in a time of need. Their generosity has ensured seniors will have meals provided six days a week.
“I can’t thank them enough,” said Henson.
“I can guarantee you that we would have been sitting, serving people who were coming into the evacuation reception centre, thinking ‘there’s probably a ton of seniors at home needing help,’ but just having no means to do it.”
Along with the Kelowna event, the United Way BC Day kicked off in 10 other communities across the province.
This year, Southern Interior United Way hopes to raise $1 million between now and the end of the campaign in February.
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