Want to meet your neighbours and build stronger communities?
If there is one thing we learned during the first phase of the pandemic, it’s about how important our home is and how important our social and family connections are. Whether you were working from home, teaching your children from home, or just getting through the day, we all were experiencing smaller footprints than we normally do.
United Way is launching an innovative community builder program called Hi Neighbour in Esquilmalt, BC. The goal of the program is to mobilize and to provide support and critical services to seniors, people living with a disability, people living in poverty, single parents, and people with mental health concerns, among others.
The funding for this program comes from a $600,000 donation from Seaspan and Southern Railway, with The Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation and is aimed to support eight neighbourhoods in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island.
Through the Hi Neighbour program, United Way helps uncover and build on the strengths, talents and passions that already exist in a community. Local love means empowering residents to make their neighbourhood the best it can be. A carefully chosen community builder is on the ground meeting residents, businesses, community groups, city councillors, school districts and researchers, on behalf of UWSVI. Once issues and opportunities are identified and prioritized, UWGV works with local community members to design solutions.
Hi Neighbour Esquimalt will launch with the distribution of postcards across the community asking residents “If you had $500 to make an impact in your community – what would you do? Send your ideas and together let’s make them a reality”. The goal is to fund up to 15 community projects, by September 31, 2020. All ideas may be submitted to community.builder@uwsvi.ca and residents have until July 15 to email in their ideas.
Meet your community builder
Kelly Binette!
Kelly has been a member of the United Way Southern Vancouver Island team since 2012 working as a fundraiser, events specialist and all-around organizer. Kelly is a born and raised Victorian and knows the Esquimalt area well having been involved with the DND community for many years. She is an active volunteer in the community.
Powered by
