Community Love: U Financial Fundraisers for Charity are among our goals for 2017

One of the many things planned alongside the inevitable roll out of U Financial products and services we will begin to offer in 2017, is the importance of our active connection to the Edmonton community. At U Financial we feel that there is significance in ‘pitching in’ when it comes to events and organizations that support charities. There is value in taking charge, rolling up the shirt sleeves, and becoming a part of an event where the goal is to ‘give back’ to our community and (if successful) bring awareness to the cause or events these organizations host. We feel that in doing so, this builds the bridge between our company and the community by revealing our compassion for people in need. U Financials’ involvement with these organizations also demonstrate the importance of our goal to help our clients become financially stable by educating them on the kinds of products and services available to them. (see our previous USPEAK blog post ‘Quality Customer Service: Are U satisfied with your FinancialInstitution?’)

The Gingerbread House Campaign

One of the campaigns we launched in mid-November 2016 was ‘The Gingerbread House’ campaign in support of 630 CHED’s Santa’s Anonymous and TheEdmonton Food Bank. We took community initiative by creating custom graphics for this campaign (featuring Kate and Alvin) and launched it on all of our social media platforms inviting all members of the Edmonton community to ‘come in’ and drop off a new toy or non-perishable food item in support of these organizations. We were successful in our collections and brought a bundle of toys to the 630 CHED Santa’s Anonymous drop off and a bountiful food supply to The Edmonton Food bank. We plan on supporting this event every November/December and hope to build our trust with these organizations through continuous support.

U Financial 2017 – Community Fundraisers

When we rolled over into 2017, we sat down with the management team here at U Financial and discussed how we could look at community involvement semi-annually. When we looked at the kinds of organizations that we would like to support, the discussion came up with our Customer Service Manager, Carmel Whittaker, that she and her family had received help from Guardian Veterinary Centre’s ‘Guardian Fund’ several years back when vet bills for their family pet Paddington (dog) began to skyrocket after he required hospitalization and expensive medications. ‘I can’t thank them enough for their financial assistance through the Guardian Fund’, Carmel said, ‘if there is any organization we can help give back to, I would personally like to see us (U Financial) give back to the Guardian Fund as a way of thanking them when our family needed them.’ (see the story of 'Drifter' the dog via Guardian Veterinary Centre here)

It is no secret that anyone who comes into our branch (located at 9004 118 Ave NW, Edmonton, will see Memphis and Minew running around our office. These two adorable felines are the beloved staff rescue pets who have a permanent home at our branch. In fact, most of the staff here at U Financial have pets at home and have often required Veterinary care for their animals. Most of us here view our pets as another family member and we value the importance of the healing and comfort properties they bring.

In investigating further as to what kind of event we would like to host or be a part of in 2017, our marketing team sourced out a wonderful organization called Berkeley’s place, a non-profit organization whose primary goal is:

“to honour all aspects of our pet’s lives and our relationship with them. Many people are unaware of the many rescue organizations who are helping animals or have misconceptions about rescue animals. Berkeley's Place is a page to come to find support, encouragement, holistic healing options using crystal and oil therapy, to network with like-minded animal lovers and guardians, to share positive stories, find recipes for your furry and feathered friends and to learn more about healing trauma and abuse in animals” – Berkeley’s Place (excerpt from their Facebook page which can be found here)

Early talks have begun with the organization and U Financial and we will reveal more details here on USPEAK later in the year with exactly how we hope to assist with the organizations ‘Wine and Whiskers’ charity fundraiser 'Old Hollywood-themed' event in September 2017. Watch for it!