In celebration of the holiday season and as part of their efforts to support charities after a challenging year, Canada Life provided a seasonal gift of $10,000 to six different charities across the country.
Krista Scaldwell, Vice-President, Communications and Public Affairs at Canada Life shared, "The needs in our communities right now are unique, and so was our approach for our 2020 seasonal gift. Registered charities are working harder than ever to support Canadians, but we recognize that they're seeing less financial support because of the pandemic.”
After applications closed, Canada Life employees voted on which charity in their local area they wanted to receive this gift and in London ON, they chose the Shine Foundation. Krista was able to share the good news with us.
Bev Wray-Green was one of the employees who voted for Shine.
Bev shares that her son lives with a neural tube defect that creates physical and learning challenges and has been referred to Shine Programs in the past. Although her son did not participate in the Shine Programs, she appreciates the life-changing opportunities that Shine offers young people across Canada.
For Shine, this gift comes at a time when we are evaluating our program fulfillment capacity for 2021 and beyond as well as evaluating the effects of the pandemic on our fundraising. In 2020, our community event fundraising has dropped over 20%, which is significant. We worked throughout the year to make up the gap, especially with corporate support, but the pandemic has negatively impacted so many of the organizations we work with.
Luckily, Canada Life employees believed in the power of Shine Experiences and voted for Shine to receive a gift to help make mental health and future-boosting experiences possible for more young people in Canada for 2021.
Thank you, Canada Life, for recognizing the state of many Canadian charities and for giving your employees the opportunity to vote to help change kids’ lives in 2021.
