Hydro Ottawa teamed up with United Way to launch an innovative community investment fund called the Hydro Ottawa’s Brighter Tomorrows Fund. Funded with the corporate matching dollars from Hydro Ottawa’s annual United Way workplace campaign, it is designed to support frontline Registered Charities that serve people who are homeless, or at risk of being homeless, to invest in small scale energy-efficient technologies or products.

Bessie Zhang is in grade 11. She likes music, speaks Spanish and does well in school. She has also donated more than 500 hours so far to making life a little better for Ottawa youth. Zhang was honoured in February with a Community Builder Award for her work with the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa and Ashbury College, in addition to her other volunteer roles. She first volunteered with the Club in 2010 and almost immediately began several initiatives and programs, including the popular “Time to Shine” music program and “Viva la Vida,” a Spanish summer camp program. In both programs, Zhang employed her personal strengths to encourage and help other children and youth to grow. She saw that many less fortunate youth did not have the opportunities she did, and wanted to change this.

A big “Thank You” to all of our volunteers! You are a vital part of United Way Ottawa and help make change happen in our community. Check out this video in celebration of National Volunteer Week (April 15 – 21).

With the books about to close on the 2011 United Way Ottawa campaign I am very proud of what we achieved together as a community. Bringing in $32 million dollars in just a few months in challenging financial times is no simple feat and I’d like to express the thanks of our Board of Directors to our tireless Campaign Chair Max Keeping, to Francois Guimont who led the Government of Canada Workplace Charitable Campaign to new heights, to all the volunteers who gave so much heart and energy to the task and of course to our donors.

I’m proud to announce that together we have raised $32 for our community through the 2011 United Way Ottawa campaign!

I want to thank the tens of thousands of donors, both new and old, who pledged their support. Though we didn’t quite reach our target, everyone involved should be very proud because your commitment and hard work is changing lives in our city.

Join keynote speakers Paul Born (President and Co-Founder, Tamarack) and Tim Brodhead (Past President and CEO, The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation) on June 13 for an introduction to the Collective Impact framework and approach, followed by in-depth workshop sessions on June 14.

Some people say that youth are the leaders of tomorrow. We believe that youth are the leaders of today. At United Way we provide grants of up to $2,500 to young people between the ages of 13 and 19 to help them make change happen in the community. These grants, called Youth Action Grants, are primarily run for youth by

Dear United Way Supporter, Make Change Happen – With these three simple words, United Way reached out to hundreds of thousands of people, like you, during our 2011 Community Campaign.   We invited you to help us achieve priority goals for our community.   Many of you answered the call and we’re almost there. We haven’t closed the books yet, so with

“Kindness can become its own motive. We are made kind by being kind.” Eric Hoffer As the spiritual leader of the Machzikei Hadas congregation and a well-known and respected leader in our community, Rabbi Reuven Bulka is often approached to lend his name, wisdom and support to many causes. More than five years ago, when the ugly face of bullying

This year’s Scotiabank Wall of Inspiration event will honour all of the Community Builder Award recipients from 2011. One of the organizations that will be honoured at this event is The Ottawa Senators Hockey Club. They received the 2011 Community Builder of the Year Award for their extensive work with dozens of organizations to improve the quality of life for