April: A Message From Our Executive Director

Our United Way family was thrilled to wrap up our year at our Celebration last week. It was a wonderful evening with inspiring speakers and award celebrations. The theme of the event centred on belonging, social health, inclusion, and human connection. We all need real-life interactions and relationships more than ever before, so we challenged the attendees to be intentional in engaging with others (a co-worker, neighbour, stranger, family member, etc.). Big or small actions – it doesn’t matter!  Please take a few minutes this week and connect with people around you. We also heard from Christina, who was one of the very first residents at our Ingersoll Light House that opened in April 2025. She was there for 7 months before moving into a rent-geared-to-income unit. Her deeply personal story opened eyes, hearts and minds! She captured what United Way is, what we do, why we do it, and how our volunteers, partners and donors are collectively changing lives. And to top it off, we announced a record campaign achievement of $1,327,965! We could not have done that without so many generous and caring community members – thank you for choosing United Way Oxford as your partner to build a better Oxford for all. And a very special thank you to our creative, hardworking, and dedicated staff, and to Lisa Wells and Shauna Pow, our Campaign Co-Chairs, for their commitment to this community.

I promise you that our many volunteers have been hard at work preparing to invest those dollars wisely, based on community needs, gaps, and readiness. Their work began in the fall, and their final allocation recommendations were just approved by our Board of Directors. We are surrounded by strong, caring agencies that work hard to continue meeting the growing demand for their services and programs. We feel so fortunate to be part of their organizational strength and stability. In the coming weeks, we will release the list of all the amazing programs and services that will be stronger thanks to your support. 

Have you ever participated in the Bridges Out of Poverty Workshop?  We had been running it annually for many years but stopped partway through the pandemic as we weren’t as keen on virtual learning. We are working to relaunch the in-person session and hope to provide it before summer. Every single adult should take this workshop at least once…there is something to learn each and every time you take it. It doesn’t matter if you are working, retired, at home, in social services, community services, retail or hospitality or more, this is a must-do training event for life!  Based on the work of Dr. Ruby Payne, it is an eye-opener filled with a million ‘a-ha’ moments. It is a framework designed to help communities, organizations and individuals understand and address the root causes of poverty. This work is also about building relationships, connections and understanding. Watch our next newsletter for more details, as we hope to have a session planned before June.

If you are interested in learning more about how to make new connections intentionally and why that matters so much, check out www.genwell.ca. GenWell is a Canadian charity spreading a message about human connections and how you can contribute through face-to-face engagement and conversation. Let’s all join the Human Connection Movement to build better social health!  Please join our United Way Team as we commit to little acts of connection – smile at a stranger, speak to a neighbour, or reach out to connect with someone you haven’t spoken to in ages. We’ll all feel better and be healthier for the effort!