ShareLife campaign coming in ahead of last year’s record pace, so far

TORONTO - All the money that Rose of Sharon sees through the generosity of donors to ShareLife goes a long way in supporting young mothers and their children in York Region, said executive director Anna Pavan.

“We provide services to pre-natal and parenting teens,” Pavan, the executive director of the not-for-profit charitable organization, told The Catholic Register. “So it’s allowing us to have five counsellors, to be able to provide parenting programs to our young mothers and a child development centre where babies are cared for while the mothers are attending school or parenting programs.”

Rose of Sharon is one of the more than 30 agencies supported by ShareLife, the charitable fundraising arm of the archdiocese of Toronto.

As part of its parish campaign — with a goal of $12.3 million this year — the first ShareLife Sunday took place on April 3. The reported results added up to $4.16 million, an increase of about 10 per cent over the same reporting time last year, according to Bill Steinburg, communications manager at ShareLife.

At the time these results were compiled, about 25 per cent of parishes still hadn’t reported their numbers.  

“This response really demonstrates that people care and we’re really hopeful we can achieve our goal,” said Steinburg, who is grateful for the generosity of parishioners across the archdiocese.

The next ShareLife Sunday is set for May 1. The final ShareLife Sunday takes place June 5.

“I hope we can continue to track above last year’s result,” said Steinburg. “If our intention is to raise more than last year, it’s important that we be ahead of last year’s results consistently. We’re cautiously optimistic that that’s the case and we’re very hopeful.”

ShareLife’s overall goal, through its parish, corporate and school campaigns, is to at least match last year’s total of $14.3 million raised.