“I am a workplace donor so I was interested in knowing where my donation goes. It’s more than just the emergency supports. A lot of people think the kind of people needing support are using food banks or emergency shelters. But the number of different agencies United Way supports covers a real breadth of services.

“It’s things like community support connection, counselling, after-school programs, meals. I did a tour in my training visiting the different partner agencies and learning what some of the neighbourhood associations do, and they do a lot more than after-school programs, for example.

“The biggest takeaway for me has been that there are so many services that you might not know even exist that receive funding from United Way — and couldn’t exist without United Way. It’s about taking care of everyone. Even for people who think they may never need them, you never know what tragic and drastic thing might happen in your life. It’s important to maintain these services so that everyone has that safety net when needed.”