Submitted by Selkirk & District Community Foundation
A common lament among us all is that we need a little more time. Well, this November the Selkirk and District Community Foundation is granting just that by changing its 24-hour Giving Challenge to a week-long event, allowing all good folks extra time to donate and help your community flourish forever.The province wide Giving Challenge takes place Nov. 9 to 15 and donors are encouraged to take advantage of it because during that time, your dollars are stretched by contributions from the Winnipeg Foundation and the Manitoba Government. With their support, every $5 gift becomes $7.
“We’re all dealing with the challenges of COVID-19 and spreading the challenge out over a week helps keep people safe while still allowing them to support the Foundation, which is something we know people are overwhelmingly supportive of,” SDCF chair Aaron Martyniw said. “We’ve had great success with the Giving Challenge over the years, and with this new format we can keep people safe and still allow them the opportunity to contribute to their community.”
Previous events featured a day-long drop-in site at the Gaynor Family Regional Library, but this year that has been cancelled.
Howard and Yvonne Oxer have been donating to the SDCF since its beginning and feel strongly that they have a role to play in supporting their community. The Giving Challenge is the perfect time to donate, Yvonne said, because “you get a little bit extra,” with the stretch dollars.
“We’d save our donations, instead of making donations through the year for people who had passed away we just save them up and make the donations all at once, basically to try and benefit the community,” Howard explained.
The couple remember when the Foundation was first starting up, and they supported the efforts of founding board members like Lewis Wasal and Dr. Ike Hussain.
“It goes back certainly a long ways,” Howard said. Yvonne has lived in Selkirk for 52 years, ever since her parents came to Canada from Yorkshire County in England to work at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre. Now, she’s a nurse at the Selkirk Hospital and a huge supporter of her adopted community.
“I think it’s important to support our community. It’s where we live and we’ve been to quite a few of the grant events and it’s actually wonderful to see the different things that the Foundation does support that we probably don’t even realize, from kids up to the seniors,” Yvonne said. “I think that Selkirk is a great place to live, I certainly wouldn’t move anywhere. I think it’s a neat community and I’m glad we can support it.”
Merilee Mollard sees the good work the Foundation does through her job as the Fund Developer at Inclusion Selkirk and she said especially during the COVID crisis giving is extremely important.She said she is forever grateful to the Community Foundation and the incredible connection they have established over the years with the community.
“Donations are definitely needed more now,” Mollard said. “We’re so lucky to have the Selkirk and District Community Foundation for all of the organizations like Inclusion Selkirk. It was nice to see that the Community Foundations of Canada was handing out funds which we all desperately need right now, but still in the forefront of all that is being able to pick up the phone and talk to Bev Clegg, or Eileen or Carol in the office and just have that face, that relationship and that knowledge to reach out to. You can’t replace that.”
She witnesses first hand the good that a Foundation grant can do through her job, and she’s also a committed donor to the Foundation. Mollard and her husband Charles Birt received their notification in the mail about the upcoming Giving Challenge, and they’re ready. “It’s on our fridge,” she laughed. “We are set. Unfortunately each year you lose friends, or acquaintances or even a family member but we give in acknowledgment.”
Donations during Giving Week can be made in several ways:
1. On line at www.endowMB.org, click “Make a donation to my foundation” and Find the Selkirk and District Community Foundation. Click on our name and click on the “make an On-Line Gift Now”. You will need to have your credit card handy for this transaction. Or connect with us directly at https://www.endowmanitoba.ca/community-foundations/selkirk-and-district-community-foundation/
2. Drop off a cheque in the outdoor drop box located at the City of Selkirk offices (200 Eaton Ave., Selkirk). All cheque donations should be in a sealed envelop ATT: SDCF Giving Challenge
3. Call the SDCF office, anytime, at 204-785-9755 and they will arrange for a safe and healthy way for you to make a donation. The Foundation can help in many ways; online support, curbside or door-to-door pick up. And no worries, they will wear masks and gloves.
