Dean, Tony & Mimmo’s Story

by Scott Gallagher on October 4, 2017 Comments Off on Dean, Tony & Mimmo’s Story

Dean, Tony & Mimmo’s Story

Dean, Tony & Mimmo’s Story

Working at Community Living Hamilton

Mimmo says, “We’re always busy.  I like keeping busy.”  His colleague Dean reports, “My family is very proud that I work here.”  Tony, yet another member of the Community Living Hamilton team, reports, “I love working here.  There’s people to talk to.”

Mimmo, Dean and Tony are three of the more than 330 staff of Community Living Hamilton, an organization that works with people with intellectual disabilities to help them contribute to their community, and to help the community appreciate their contributions.  United Way plays a big role in the success of that mission by providing vital financial support – the kind of reliable, annual support that makes for a secure organization and a stable, reliable and productive environment for Tony, Dean, Mimmo and more than 1,400 other clients who use the organization’s services and support.

Dean knows that community contributions, like the funds that come from United Way, are vital to his experience at Community Living Hamilton.  “It’s an important job for me,” he says.  Because he can’t read or write, his employment prospects are limited.  United Way support for Community Living Hamilton creates opportunities for Dean.  “I really appreciate this job.  I really enjoy this job,” he says.

The work, the place and the people mean so much to Tony that he’s happy to admit, “If the doors were closed here, I’d be lost without my job.  It’s like a home to me.  Other places don’t have all of this.  It’s like home.”

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Scott GallagherDean, Tony & Mimmo’s Story

Katona’s Story

by Scott Gallagher on October 4, 2017 Comments Off on Katona’s Story

Katona’s Story

Katona’s Story

Finding Home

Katona’s family moved a lot when she was a kid, which meant making friends was hard. After four or five times moving to a new place, getting close to people became a scary thing.

As a teen, her family moved to a community with United Way supported programs where she worked in a daycare, received homework help and even went on summer canoe trips. It was through these programs that Katona gained mentors that not only supporter her but pushed her to go further than she ever thought she could to get “amazing” grades.

Katona says that was able to both laugh and cry through life’s tougher times with her “agency mom”, a mentor at one of the programs she attended.  Eventually, she opened up again and started making new connections. In Katona’s words, “You’re welcome from the jump. You get shown love.”

When her mom told her they would be moving again, Katona decided that she would stay behind in the place she now calls home.

At 18, Katona works as a community engagement outreach worker helping young people get connected to the same sorts of programs and services that changed her life for the better. She plans to use the leadership and time management skills she’s learned through United Way supported programs to attend college in the fall.

Katona believes that her transition to adulthood is going smoother thanks to the programs she attended and the mentors she worked with. “They all gave me tiny bits of themselves”.

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Scott GallagherKatona’s Story

Gord’s Story

by Scott Gallagher on October 4, 2017 Comments Off on Gord’s Story

Gord’s Story

Gord’s Story

It’s About More Than the Show

Gord has a long history of being part of the show.  He has worked in theatre, arts and broadcasting, hosted a program on McMaster University’s radio station and even managed a movie theatre where his love of film was part of his everyday work experience.  Yet, as important as entertainment and being part of an artistic community have been to Gord, few people have more respect for the power of numbers, forms and processes.

Gord’s track record in entertainment is matched by his commitment to helping people who are living in poverty.  A well-known activist and member of the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction – where, fittingly, he is part of the speakers bureau – Gord has seen how something as apparently routine as a tax return can impact lives.  He is a vocal advocate and supporter, for example, of the Hamilton Tax Clinic, a partnership of United Way, the Social Planning and Research Council and the City of Hamilton.  The clinic operates in a number of locations throughout the community where volunteers provide free assistance to local families in completing and filing their tax returns.

That kind of service is more than just an administrative helping hand.  Gord points out that for people living near or below the poverty level, a properly completed tax filing can create access to some of the 41 different tax credits available to people in need.  The result is a vital reduction in taxes owing and, often, a refund of precious dollars that would have otherwise been withheld.  “It’s very important,” stresses Gord.  “If you don’t file, you can’t access the credits. So go out and do it!”

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Scott GallagherGord’s Story

Cam’s Story

by Scott Gallagher on October 4, 2017 Comments Off on Cam’s Story

Cam’s Story

Cam’s Story

Start to Build Your Way Up

You may know Cam’s story already.  If you live in Hamilton’s Ward 9, where Cam ran for city council as a 19 year old, you know his story.  If you’re part of McMaster University, where Cam is a student leader, you know it as well.  If you have connections to the Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games, the Premier’s Council on Youth Opportunities, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hamilton & Burlington, or any number of other organizations and committees where Cam devotes his time, you know his story.  And of course, if you’re part of the United Way Halton & Hamilton family, Cam’s story is one you know well.

Cam came to Canada as a refugee when he was seven years old.  He and his family faced the same challenges as many new Canadians. “You start at the bottom,” he says.  “You have nothing, but you slowly start to build your way up.”  While Cam’s family was adapting to its new home, his mother found help in a United Way-supported organization that connected Cam to a mentor.  “Without the mentoring I received,” Cam recalls, “I would not be who I am today, and I don’t think I would have gone as far as I have.”

In 2017, Cam completed his honours degree in political science and became the first university graduate in his family.  Thanks to scholarships and support Cam discovered through United Way, he will also begin his professional life debt free.  As Cam works for the City of Hamilton and looks toward a future in public service and possibly even politics, he says, “It’s hard for me to think about where I’d be without the United Way.  I am eternally thankful.”

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Scott GallagherCam’s Story