Fort McMurray United Way - Fort McMurray Charities

Mission Statement

To improve lives and build community by engaging individuals and mobilizing collective action.

United Way of Fort McMurray Anthem

I believe in my community.
I believe that its success depends on the people who live in it.
That everyone has something to contribute.
That everyone deserves respect.
That everyone's potential can be realized.
That diversity is vital.
That every person has value.
That everyone needs help and everyone can offer help.
That a safe supportive community is everyone's responsibility.
I believe in possibility.

United Way of Fort McMurray is an incorporated non-profit charity focused on improving the long term health of our community. We run Fort McMurray's largest annual fundraising campaign in support of social service agencies providing a vital network of support, and over 50 programs and services.

The Campaign Committee is the driving force behind our annual campaign. These business and community leaders meet with colleagues and peers to encourage the participation of their organizations in the United Way campaign. The Campaign Cabinet's effort ultimately involves hundreds of volunteers, and reaches into workplaces large and small across the city.

Community Impact - The heart of the matter

In 2003, the United Way movement across Canada approved a new focus which launched the organization on a profound journey. United Way of Fort McMurray voted to follow this philosophy in 2006. While continuing to support the work of our member agencies, we are moving in this direction. At its core, this transformation is about a fundamental shift from being known just as a very successful umbrella fundraising organization to a Movement focused on community impact. We’re often asked what this means, and how it’s different from "what we used to do".

Community Impact is about achieving meaningful, long-term improvements to quality of life in Canadian communities—addressing not just the symptoms of problems but also getting at the root causes. It’s about making fundamental changes to community conditions.

As members of a movement committed to Community Impact, United Ways all across Canada are working together and with others to amass the collective strength needed for real change to happen. Our goals are many — to:

•Influence public attitudes, systems and policies
•Focus on underlying causes of social issues
•Strengthen the network of services and the capacity of nonprofits and the community
•Engage the community’s financial resources, influence, time, knowledge and action

By combining community engagement with priority-setting and collaborative action at multiple levels, together communities and Canada’s United Way movement can achieve—and are achieving—lasting, measurable change.

Download our 2008 Annual Report

Download our 2009 Annual Report

Board of Directors

A volunteer Board of Directors of leading community members governs all United Way decision-making. The Board oversees how donor money is used, shapes our strategic vision and plan, and monitors organizational performance.

United Way of Fort McMurray 2010 Board of Directors

Leroy Van Wieren
President
Syncrude Canada

Barb Jewers
2010 Campaign Chair
Syncrude Canada

Jason Reimer
2009 Campaign Co-Chair
Twilite Enterprises Ltd.

Lana Hill
Director
Esso

Lorraine Demers
Director
Fort McMurray Public School District

Malcolm Mayes
Vice president
Shell (Albian)

Mel Kraley
2nd Vice president

Melanie Framp
Treasurer
RMWB

Norma Shaw
Director
RMWB

Phil Meagher
Director
FMPSCD

Ray Floyd
Director
Suncor Energy Inc

Sudarshan Kalra
Director
Suncor Energy Inc



Back row (left to right) Phil Meagher, Malcolm Mayes, Jason Reimer, Ray Floyd, Mel Kraley, Sudarshan Kalra, Kenny Jones
Front row (left to right)Anita Semple, Norma Shaw, Melanee Framp, Barb Jewers

Message from 2010 Campaign Chair

      My name is Barb Jewers and I am truly proud and excited to be your 2010 United Way Campaign Chair.

By way of introduction, I wanted to tell you a little bit about myself and how I ended up so heavily involved with the United Way. I am originally from Nova Scotia and I moved here in 1990 to work with Syncrude. I am a civil engineer by education and a mining “engineer” by work experience. I’ve worked in lots of different roles in my 20-year career with Syncrude, and currently I am a Project Executive in Projects Portfolio.

      Aside from my family and work, my personal passions include travel and photography. I’ve been very fortunate in my life to experience many wonderful travel adventures and the hobby photographer in me is always inspired to capture those memories.

      Another significant passion of mine is volunteering. I’m not sure who originally said “When you help someone up the hill, you get that much closer to the top yourself”, but this saying has always rung true to me.

      I have been involved with an international organization called Beta Sigma Phi since 2002. Beta Sigma Phi, for those who may not be familiar, is an international, non-academic sorority with 200,000 members in chapters around the world. Beta Sigma Phi was founded for the social, cultural, and civic enrichment of its members and to promote service to the communities they live in.

      Through my involvement with Beta Sigma Phi, my life has been enriched and I hope I have been able to help enrich the lives of many others in our community through our various service projects. Our chapter sponsors two needy families for Christmas each year. We collect toiletries and personal items for the Family Crisis Centre. We have an annual Christmas auction to raise funds for the Food Bank.
We’ve served lunch at the Salvation Army. We have a route we look after for community cleanup. We donate school supplies to disadvantaged children. We are avid supporters of the Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay forLife and Daffodil Days. Each year we fund a subscription to the Fort McMurray Public Library. We work concessions at hockey games and help with coat checks at Keyano Theatre productions. The list of our service projects goes on and on. All it takes is a group of like-minded citizens, united in purpose, to make the world a better place.

      Over the years, I’ve learned that if you reach out and try to help change a life, the life you change is very often your own. In 2008, I was fortunate to combine my love of travel with volunteering when I visited New Orleans with 4 other Fort McMurrayites. We worked alongside hundreds of volunteers on the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Habitat for Humanity Work Project on the Gulf Coast. I was part of a 50 person all-Canadian team who blitz built 2 homes for Habitat Partner families in the Lower 9th Parish.

      Before the build started, we had an opportunity to tour the areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Katrina was the costliest and one of the five deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States. At that time, 3 years had passed since Katrina and there was still so much left to rebuild. But rebuilding they are and I was both proud and humbled to play just a tiny part in the restoration of New Orleans.
Cynthia Bates, the owner of the home I helped build, worked side by side with us the whole week and we really got to know each other well. The outpouring of gratitude from Habitat Partner Families like Cynthia would be expected. We were helping to build her home and giving her family a fresh start. As Habitat’s motto says, Cynthia got a hand up, not a hand out. But the gratitude and appreciation didn’t end there. What really struck me was the appreciation by the community in general for our work. On my walks through the communities
we were building or through the streets of downtown New Orleans and the French Quarter, complete strangers would come up to us and shake our hands and express their appreciation and gratitude for the work we were doing. As people drove by the houses we were building they would honk their horns and shout out words of encouragement and thanks. When people saw our Canadian Flags flying proudly at the
work-sites, they would yell out “O Canada”! What a feeling to be part of something so much bigger than anyone could do alone.

      The New Orleans build was my second Habitat project, having already done a build in Los Angeles in 2007. I can honestly tell you that I am a different person because of Habitat, forever changed.
    Closer to home, I have been involved in the United Way in some capacity since I moved to Fort McMurray in 1990. At my workplace I’ve been both a donor and a canvasser. I’ve helped organize special events and I’ve cooked or sold thousands of burgers and pizzas. I’ve sold raffle tickets and I’ve made donations to silent auctions. Over the years, if you name it, I’ve probably done it in support of my workplace campaigns.
       In my head, I’ve always known that being part of the United Way was just the right thing to do … so I did it. But it wasn’t until 2007 that I started to really “get it”. It was then that I stepped up my involvement in my workplace campaign. I increased my awareness of the services provided by our funded agencies through Seeing Is Believing tours. I got down and dirty with Days of Caring projects organized by my workplace. I listened to testimonials from clients of United Way-funded agencies sharing how their lives were changed for the better and their personal commitment to make it a lasting change. I’ve gotten to know some of our dedicated and passionate agency staff and volunteers that work tirelessly to provide critical
services to our community. And last but certainly not least, I have been so inspired by the heart and soul of our United Way staff that I wanted to become a Director on the United Way Board and support the movement in a broader capacity.
       Before I get into the future, I want to close the loop on the past and extend my personal congratulations to Fort McMurray for an outstanding campaign in 2009. We exceeded our campaign goal and raised more than 5.4 million dollars. We also maintained our #1 ranking as the most giving community in Canada for the 4th year in a row. Under the leadership of our 2009 campaign chairs Kenny Jones and Jason Reimer, this community, united in purpose, worked tirelessly to exceed every single campaign goal we set for ourselves. Congratulations!
       Even though the campaign bar was set high in 2009 by Kenny and Jason, I am 110% confident that our United Way staff, our volunteers, our workplace campaigns and our great community will pull together once again in support of another outstanding campaign.
       In closing, I want to share with you a little bit more about what I believe in and why I am so passionate about the United Way. I hope this strikes a chord with you, that it inspires you to give generously, and fosters your trust that the United Way will use your gift to fund crucial services for the people that need
it the most … our neighbours.

I Believe ... that leadership is deciding how to make a difference and inspiring others to follow.
I Believe ... in giving where I live.
I Believe ... that my United Way is the most effective and efficient way of identifying and supporting the needs of my community.
I Believe ... that in these challenging times, investing in and building our community has never been more important.
I Believe ... that those who are fortunate should be giving to help those less fortunate.
I Believe ... in my community and that my Leadership Gift brings hope and support to my community neighbours.
I Believe ... that together we can make our community the best it can be.
I Believe ... in possibility.