Provincial Government Employees Surpass United Way Goal

Provincial government employees in the Halifax region showed extraordinary support during their annual United Way campaign, raising more than $538,000.

The campaign goal was $450,000. Provincewide, government employees raised almost $575,000.

"As always, the success of our campaign can be attributed to the dedicated employees who believe the United Way is making a real difference in our communities," said Kim MacNeil, divisional chair of the provincial campaign and executive director of environmental science and program management at Environment, this year's host department.

"Our account executives and departmental employees worked to help United Way-funded agencies and programs in our communities and also to promote sustainability and environmental responsibility in the process."

For more than 50 years, provincial government employees have supported the United Way. Funds raised in 2009 helped the United Way of Halifax Region fund 57 agencies and more than 100 programs.

To complement the theme of this year's provincial government campaign, "environmental responsibility supports sustainable and healthy communities," organizers made many environmentally responsible decisions such as providing web-based information instead of paper material, organizing environment-themed events and reducing resource use.

"The provincial government employee campaign made a significant contribution to help the United Way of Halifax Region surpass our goal of $6.2 million," said Catherine Woodman, president and CEO of United Way of Halifax Region.

The provincial government campaign was managed by volunteers in 43 government departments and agencies. The Department of Labour and Advanced Education will host the campaign in 2011. For more information on United Way, visit www.unitedway.ca .