Donations help United Way support neighbourhoods

The United Way will use a $600,000 donation to support eight neighbourhoods in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island, including Victoria and Esquimalt.

The money came from Seaspan, Southern Railway of British Columbia and the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation.

“Care is an important value across the Washington companies and the foundation,” said Kyle Washington, executive chairman of Seaspan. “Now, more than ever, our neighbours are in critical need of support. This donation is meant to support innovative programming that has significant impact.”

The United Way will use the funds to launch a Community Builder Program in eight neighbourhoods. The program will include micro-grants to provide community connections and funding to service agencies.

The organization hopes a $150,000 matching challenge by the Phyllis Washington Foundation will raise funds to allow the expansion of the Community Builder hubs to five more areas.

Meanwhile, today marks the launch of the United Way’s free webinar series called Local Love Virtual Café. The first event takes place today from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

It will be hosted by United Way CEO Mark Breslauer with Gregor Craigie of CBC Victoria serving as moderator; guest panelists will include Mandy Farmer from Accent Inns, Darlene Hollstein from the Bay Centre, Sandra Richardson of the Victoria Foundation and Kristi Rivait from Scale Collaborative.