SUDBURY -- Vale and the local United Steelworkers union announced Thursday that nearly half-a-million dollars has been raised for the 2019 United Way Centraide North East Ontario fundraising campaign.
A total of $473,278 was raised, and part of those funds comes from Vale’s 50 per cent match to employee contributions in Sudbury.
Dino Otranto is the chief operating officer for Vale’s North Atlantic Operations and Asian Refineries. "The history that the two organizations have brought to this great cause is fantastic," said Otranto.
Vale has been working in partnership with USW for 38 years.
"I think that the community partnership that the Steelworkers and the company are looking for is the reason that it’s being upheld," Nick Larochelle, president of USW Local 6500. "There’s no denying that the member agencies have helped immensely and that the community benefits from this campaign."
The event held Thursday to announce the donation doubled as an introduction for Mary-Lou Hussak, the new executive director of the United Way Centraide North East chapter. She says all of the funds raised will help tackle local issues.
"We have a lot of ‘unignorable issues’ that these funds will support. Things like mental health, poverty, insecurities for food, children and youth problems, so there’s a lot of issues that are within our organization that these funds will support directly," said Hussak.
She is looking forward to continuing to develop community partnerships in her new role.
"I think working within the community and seeing the impact that our donors, partners like Vale and USW, give to the community and how they give back, and really how we’re helping a community grow and succeed," said Hussak.
