Sudbury Wolves Sports and Entertainment (SWSE) has doubled down on its partnership with United Way Centraide North East Ontario (UWCNEO), expanding on their Wolves United initiative and adding United Five to the fold.
The partnership will now include the Sudbury Five and revenue generated through 50/50 ticket sales at Five games will be going back into the community to support youth and youth mental health programming.
"The need in our community for youth and youth mental health-related programs is critical," said Michael Cullen, executive director UWCNEO. "One in four Canadian children are vulnerable in one or more areas of development such as communication schools, social comeptency and language development before entering first grade."
United Way manages the 50/50 raffle at Wolves and Five games, along with the applications for, and allocation of funds.
Sudbury Five owner Dario Zulich attended Thursday's announcement of the expanded partnership and spoke of the importance of the team's role in helping the community.
"I think it's very important to give back to the community. This started with Wolves United and now we're building on that with United Five," said Zulich. "Everything works together and this is helping to build and stregthen the community. I'm so proud to be part of this."
Last year, funds raised through Wolves United went toward supporting a number of projects in Greter Sudbury, including:
- The CTV Lions Christmas Telethon, to purchase toys, clothing and food for children.
- Special Olympics Ontario to support Special Olympics Ontario Championship Floor Hockey and Special Olympics Ontario School Competitions Badminton.
- Laurentian University to produce Aboriginal Children’s Health and Wellbeing Measure Kits.
- Manitoulin Family Resources to provide Healthy Relationships Public Education for Grades 9 – 12 students.
- CNIB to subsidize blind or partially sighted youth to attend the Summer Camp Program or Sports and Recreation Camp.
In addition, UWCNEO is a big contributor to Big Brothers Big Sisters here in Sudbury.
"Big Brothers Big Sisters works primarily with youth who are already going through a lot of life stress at a young age. A lot of these children grow up needing more mentorship and in the last few years we've a lot of mental health impact," said Chantal Gladu, executive director, BBBS.
"We didn't have the funding in our budget and we needed at least 40 more mentors trained in mental health first aid to be better equipped to help and support and guide these children. Thanks to this opportunity we were able to train these 40 volunteers, and these grants are helping our community as a whole."
The Sudbury Five were taking their morning shoot around ahead of their game tonight at the Sudbury Arena against the Saint John Riptide. The team's coach and general manager Logan Stutz gathered the squad to stop over at the media conference and shared a few words.
"We appreciate everything you guys do in supporting us and the community," said Stutz.
"It's great that we can put this product out there, and having the United Way help to support goes a long way. Ultimately why we do it is for the community and for projects like this so thank you very much for being part of this and we're happy to be part of it as well."
For more information about United Five and Wolves United, including volunteer opportunities with the 50/50 raffle, or inquiries about how to apply, visit uwcneo.com.
