Confederation College students and staff showed off their giving spirit Monday.
During the December installment of the college's live talk show Let's Talk About..., host Spencer Hari helped special guest Santa Claus unveil the college's fundraising total of $44,500 for this year's United Way community campaign.
The college community also raised more than $14,000 for Confederation's Stock the Bank, the school's emergency student food bank. They also collected more than 3,700 food items.
Student union president Katie Arpin said the donations, both cash and food, come from students, faculty and other community members through various fundraising efforts including friendly competitions between departments. "It's hard to make ends meet as it is so having this extra support and resource is just extremely important for our students," said Arpin.
Last year more than 200 students accessed the food bank and Arpin said that number is only increasing as the college's student population grows.
The $44,500 raised for the United Way is 10 per cent more than what was raised last year and United Way assistant director Jered Zieroth said the partnership between the college and the organization is a fantastic way to be raise money for the community. "We love this relationship with Confederation College," Zieroth said, adding the need for this money in the community is great.
The Thunder Bay chapter's goal this year is to raise $2.7 million to help 29 local agencies. That money only covers 60 per cent of the ask to those funded agencies, said Zieroth. "These 29 agencies that operate within our community, they help hold up a corner of our community and if they didn't exist, this would be a very different place to work and live," he said.
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