These are challenging times. Over the past year, more and more individuals and families are slipping through the cracks, and the organizations supporting vulnerable folks are having to do more with less. In response, your United Way connected individuals and families in low-income households to over $5.8M in financial supports and provided over $5.5M in funding to charities and not-for-profits. As we look to the future, we are committed to growing our community investment in support of vulnerable populations and the organizations supporting them.

None of this happens without the dedication of our donors, staff, board, volunteers, and community partners, whose commitment we truly value.

In the development of our most recent strategic plan, we heard loud and clear that our community is looking to the United Way to take on a more active role in the areas of advocacy and education. In response, over the past year:

• We continued to advocate for living wage as a critical poverty reduction strategy
• We co-hosted our second “ReThink Poverty” event in partnership with the Poverty Reduction Task Group
• We supported advocacy efforts that have resulted in positive changes to Ontario’s “Low-Income Energy Assistance Program”
• We expanded our offerings of documentary film screenings through the launch of the “Real 2 Reel Film Festival” which highlights stories of lived and living experience
• We collaborated with other United Ways across the province in the development of “Bringing Affordable Housing Home: An Action Plan for Housing Stability in Ontario”

As we look to the coming year, we are excited to build on our education and advocacy efforts through the launch of the Resilience Rising podcast in collaboration with our partners at CFS Counselling + Wellbeing.

As we said, these are challenging times, but we have hope for a better tomorrow.

Thank you for believing in your United Way.

Your support is proof positive that better is possible when we work together.

Thank you,

We were honoured to host the Women United Luncheon, generously sponsored by community leader Chantal McNeily, Investment and Wealth Advisor at RBC Wealth Management.

A special thank you to our speakers, Samantha Jones from My Friend’s House and Elisha Sullivan from Victim Services Simcoe County, who shared their experiences and insights on the challenges faced by women in Simcoe Muskoka.

Women United™ is an inclusive and vibrant global community of changemakers. To learn more about this group visit Women United

The People and Partners Behind United Way Simcoe Muskoka

What a wonderful “Night at the Opera” raising funds and awareness for the causes supported by your United Way! A heartfelt thank you to Warden Clarke, Deputy Warden Jennifer Coughlin, and the entire team at County of Simcoe for your continued support of United Way as the charity of choice for the Warden’s Gala. Over the years, this event has raised nearly $900,000!

A special thank you to Sarah Freemark from CTV Barrie for being a fantastic MC and to Dmytro Garbovskyi for gracing us with his beautiful baritone

Employee Spotlight: Kelsey Nicholls, Community Impact Associate

We believe in investing in people and forming meaningful connections. We see ourselves as more than just a funder. We listen, we collaborate and we bring communities together. Here we’re pleased to introduce you to one of the amazing humans doing this work.

It fills my cup when I am working with the community to support collaboration and having the opportunity to share the impact of the communities work!

Interesting Fact: I recently illustrated a children’s book!