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”.

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.”