Jesse Nadeau speaks about the PADDLE Program during the United Way's fundraising launch. Photos by Dennis Chippa.
Jesse Nadeau loves everything about PADDLE.
He isn’t shy about telling people, either.
“The PADDLE program is great for this community. I love PADDLE ‘cause it gave me the chance to get out in my community.”
“I volunteer at Cogeco all the time and my colleague Jason Berger is my best friend ever.”
Jesse outlined the importance of the PADDLE Program (Providing Adults with Developmental Disabilities Lifelong Experiences) at the launch of the United Way’s fundraising campaign at Chippewa Secondary School, PADDLE’s headquarters.
Megan Johnson from the PADDLE program says much of the work the program does to assist people like Jesse comes through the financial support of the United Way.
“The opportunity to spread our message like this on a bigger platform, and to access training for us that we otherwise would not have access to. So that’s a big part of it. And it’s also an opportunity to involve our participants in everything that we do. The United Way is so welcoming.”
Dr. Catherine Whiting, United Way’s fundraising campaign chair, says she’s more than optimistic the campaign will meet the target it set three years ago.
Dr. Catherine Whiting gets the crowd excited by explaning the campaign's goals.
“The second year was just amazing. Our total went up to over 295 thousand dollars after two years. So we have to raise 105 thousand dollars to reach our 400 thousand dollar goal. Just knowing the generosity of the communities in Nipissing and area, I am certain we’ll blow it out of the water.”
United Way funded nine programs from last year’s campaign, and provided several one-time grants to other projects.
Whiting says the beneficiaries are from a large segment of the population, and the more money raised, the more worthy projects that can be funded.
“We are doing wonderful work with the funds that we get. It’s helping us be sustainable in our area.”
The campaign is largely financed through employee deductions and individual business contributions and fundraisers.
But at the same time, over the next few months, dozens of United Way volunteers and past recipients will spread the message of the United Way, which Whiting says really helps.
“We’re now in the community, and that’s wonderful and we’re here to stay. I think that’s a tremendous accomplishment. And I’m really looking forward to meeting people and seeing people as we progress through our campaign this year.”
Most importantly says Whiting, she’s looking forward to a few months from now, when she can announce the success of the campaign.
