ShareLife aims high in 2011
By Vanessa Santilli-Raimondo, The Catholic Register
TORONTO - The ShareLife parish campaign kicked off Ash Wednesday with a goal of increasing donations by 2.5 per cent to help with the ever-growing calls for help. Coming on the heals of last year’s record-breaking campaign, this year the fundraising arm of the archdiocese of Toronto’s annual campaign goal is to at least match last year’s total of $14.3 million, including $12.3 million from the parish campaign.
“The repercussions of the economic downturn are still being seen in the community,” said Bill Steinburg, communications manager at ShareLife. “There are a number of people who were able to get by for so long that are now in a position that they’re close to the end of their own resources — their safety net.”
ShareLife funds more than 30 agencies that help people in need, ranging from teen mothers and seniors to the developmentally challenged.
As part of the parish campaign, the three ShareLife Sundays are set for April 3, May 1 and June 5.
“The parish campaign is the backbone of the ShareLife campaign,” said Steinburg. “When ShareLife began, it started with people from the parish going out into the community, canvassing and receiving pledges and donations — and you can’t get more personal than that.”
In 2010, ShareLife collected $11,875,240 in the parish campaign and reached $14.3 million overall through corporate, school and workplace campaigns.
Steinburg said he’s always heartened by the response of the Catholic community.
“When times are tough, when it might seem logical to expect that we’ll suffer due to economic times or due to other circumstances like a natural disaster, the Catholic community always seems to step forward and help ensure that we can meet our goal and the agencies can fulfill their own mandates of helping people.”
For more information, see www.sharelife.org.
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