By McGill Reporter Staff
McGill set a new record in Centraide donations last year, pulling in $468,000 for the umbrella organization that helps tens of thousands of people in the Greater Montreal area. The total vastly exceeded the original target of $425,000.
At Wednesday’s, McGill Centraide kickoff at the Three Bares, Principal Suzanne Fortier announced the target for this year’s campaign: $475,000.
“For the past 20 years, the McGill community has raised funds for Centraide of Greater Montreal, which supports more than 360 community groups across Island of Montreal, Laval, and South Shore,” Prof. Fortier said. “I call upon you to get involved by donating, volunteering and taking part in activities during what will be another meaningful campaign.”
The 2015 campaign co-chairs are Vice-Principal (Research and International Relations) Rosie Goldstein, Dean of Law Daniel Jutras, and Kareem Ibrahim, President of the Students’ Society of McGill University.
After the kickoff event, which featured free ice cream as a way of drumming up interest, dozens of McGillians headed south to McGill College Avenue where, along with Marty the Martlet, they joined thousands of Montrealers representing hundreds of groups and organizations from across the Greater Montreal area in the annual “March of the Umbrellas.”
There, at the corner of Ste. Catherine St. and McGill College, an amazing selfie was taken at noon to kick off the march and Centraide’s 2015 fall campaign, whose theme this year is #SELVIES.
While selfies continue to fill our social media feeds, Centraide has decided to give a twist to this phenomenon. Instead of showing only the bright side of adventure and vacations, Centraide “selvies” show what life is really like and give an unfiltered view of the realities facing the people who receive help from the large network of agencies Centraide supports.
On the Island of Montreal, one out of four people live with a low income. But a life cycle marked by poverty creates so many problems: people drop out of school, can’t get enough to eat, have trouble finding housing, experience social isolation and don’t live as long.
In the coming weeks, many of us will be talking to everyone we know about this reality and about the positive impact that Centraide’s 360 agencies have on people’s lives.