Christmas is a time to share – with our families, our friends, and with those in our communities who need a helping hand. It’s easy – too easy – to take for granted all the good things that Christmas brings. We know not everyone is that fortunate. That is particularly true this year, in Calgary, when the effects of the June flooding still impact us, family members and friends.
So this year, Communica’s Christmas giving hits very close to home. We have elected to provide funding to four agencies that assist those in need, and two of those agencies were specifically selected in order to directly support families who were severely impacted by the floods, and still need help today.
This year we have decided to make donations to:
• The Salvation Army in High River, Alberta : High River was hit very hard by the June 2013 floods, probably more so than any other community in Alberta. And it is still recovering from the impact. Communica has a special link with the community, since the family of one of our Calgary employees lives there and is still coping with what happened. Communica is donating to the Salvation Army, which will provide a Christmas hamper of food and toys for one High River family of four.
• CUPS – The Calgary Urban Project Society – is a Calgary based non-profit organization that is dedicated to supporting individuals and families who deal with issues of poverty. Communica’s donation to CUPS will enable a family of seven to enjoy food and christmas presents for their entire family.
• CEPF – Calgary Educational Partnership Foundation is a organization whose mission is to enhance student learning opportunities by facilitating partnerships among businesses, educators, government and school communities. CEPF is also a Communica neighbor: they had office space in the basement of the office we were in when the June floods hit. Although Communica has been out of our offices since the flooding, we did manage to forge on and hold our annual Stampede party on the parking lot outside our offices in July, and raise some funds for CEPF at that event. Now, for Christmas, we are making an additional contribution, and hope that we will soon be back in our offices, with CEPF, in the new year.
• Our Vancouver Communica office is donating funds to the Safe Haven Foundation of Greater Vancouver. Safe Haven supports victims of domestic abuse, and uses the funding it receives to provide safe shelter and social assistance to women, children and seniors who have experienced physical and psychological abuse.
In addition, once again Communica employees have collected toys, and other gifts, for the Toy Angel (formerly known as Toy Mountain) campaign to help ensure that as many children, adults and seniors as possible receive a gift or two to open on Christmas day.
We at Communica know how lucky we all are, thanks to our families, friends, colleagues and clients. We are only too happy to share and give back to our communities, and there’s no better time for that than Christmas.
— from all of us at Communica
