One more pasta lunch! It’s not too late to give to Concordia’s Centraide campaign

Wouldn’t you like a $700 gift card for Best Buy? How about a Deluxe Nespresso machine?

It isn’t too late to get your raffle tickets to benefit the Concordia United Way/Centraide campaign. Or, why not enter the 50/50 draw? Last year’s winner took home $1,200. Tickets are on sale until 4:20 p.m. on December 5, the day of the draw. To purchase yours, send an email to unitedway@concordia.ca.

“We’d like to give a heartfelt thanks to those who’ve already given and volunteered their time, but it’s not over yet,” says Bram Freedman, Concordia’s United Way/Centraide campaign chair. Read his full personal message here.

To help Concordia meet the 2016 goal of $190,000, Freedman points out that you can still make a secure campaign donation online or download a paper pledge form.

One more plate of pasta!

And let’s not forget the noodle feast!. Loyola Campus will host their Centraide pasta lunch on November 30 from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Loyola Jesuit Hall and Conference Centre (RF Building).

For $12, you get much more than a plate of pasta. It also includes a green salad, a roll, a drink and a dessert — chocolate or vanilla cake. The food is being donated, so all proceeds go directly to Centraide.

Social justice activists at COCo

Curious about what kinds of organizations receive funding from your donations?

The Centre for Community Organizations (COCo) is just one of the 349 agencies and projects that benefit from Concordia’s fundraising efforts on behalf of the Centraide of Greater Montreal campaign, which raised $54.3 million in 2015.

COCo is a provincial, non-profit organization that promotes social justice, active citizenship, democracy and just socio-economic development by supporting healthy organizations and strong communities through education. 

“Centraide was pivotal as our first source of core funding in 2001 and they’ve been with us ever since,” says COCo co-founder and Concordia alum Frances Ravensbergen (PhD 10). She is now a part-time faculty member in both the School of Community and Public Affairs and the Department of Applied Human Sciences at Concordia.

“They approached us, which was remarkable. In my 30 years in the field of community development, I’d never seen funders make the first move.”

Centraide gives COCo $95,400 a year in core funding — one third of their operating budget. COCo’s horizontal organization is run by a four-person team. It often works with Concordia groups, such as the Quebec English-Speaking Communities Research Network run by Lorraine O' Donnell, affiliate professor with Concordia’s School of Community and Public Affairs.

“Essentially, we are a second-line organization,” says Juniper Belshaw, currently a master’s student at Concordia in Human Systems Intervention (HSI), who handles COCo’s funding development and contract coordination.

“We support community organizations that deal with individual citizens.”

Concordia’s real-world connection

Belshaw credits the education she’s getting in Concordia’s master’s program in HSI for “everything,” including changing the way she thinks about organizations.

“Before the program, I thought about each individual’s role. Now, I think about all the moving parts of an organization and I have a more profound understanding of the difficulties of change.”

Ravensbergen also acknowledges the impact Concordia has had on her work.

“I was already working in community development when I started my undergraduate degree at Concordia in the 1980s,” she recalls. “But the way the university connected to the real world helped me to link the theoretical pieces to what I was dealing with on the job.”

Both Ravensbergen and Belshaw praise Centraide’s understanding of what it takes to help community organizations.

“Centraide has a holistic vision of what is needed to create social change,” said Ravensbergen.

Email unitedway@concordia.ca to buy your raffle or 50/50 tickets before 4:20 p.m. on December 5, 2016! To contribute to the Concordia United Way/Centraide Campaign, make a secure donation online or download a paper pledge form.

The Concordia United Way/Centraide Campaign’s closing event will be held in the atrium of the Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Integrated Complex (EV Building) on December 5, starting at 4:15 p.m.