On Friday, October 9, City of Windsor ‘inside’ municipal and public service workers, represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 543, will give back to the Windsor community that they serve by hosting a Thanksgiving Giveback event to help 600 local families celebrate Thanksgiving with hampers filled with all the ingredients to ensure a festive Thanksgiving dinner. This is the second annual Thanksgiving Giveback that CUPE 543 is mounting in conjunction with the Windsor Essex Food Bank Association (WEFBA).
“CUPE 543 is honoured and happy to give back to the Windsor community that we so proudly serve,” said Mark Vander Voort, president of CUPE 543. “We received tremendous positive feedback and satisfaction for helping our community in last year’s Thanksgiving Giveback and we will continue to help in any way we can to ensure families in need have an opportunity to have a full Thanksgiving dinner filled with all the trimmings.”
Thanksgiving hampers will be distributed at 10 food bank locations across the City of Windsor on Friday, October 9. CUPE 543 members will be on hand to give back at five locations including the Unemployed Help Centre, Drouillard Place, The Downtown Mission, The Salvation Army and Windsor Lifeline Outreach. Each hamper will contain a turkey (for families) or a chicken (for single recipients), along with carrots, potatoes, onions, stuffing, apples, cookies and candy for families with children.
CUPE 543 members and their families worked with community agencies and volunteered to pack hampers with 500 turkeys, 100 chickens, 2,750 pounds of potatoes, 3,000 pounds of carrots, hundreds of pounds of onions and 3,000 pounds of apples, along with 600 bags of cookies and 1,000 bags of candies for each of the 600 hampers. All the produce comes from local farmers and CUPE 543 thanks local suppliers for their donations and discounts for the giveaway, including Jay Williamson (owner of Freshco at McDougall and Tecumseh, Windsor) Col-Mac Orchards in Kingsville, Craig Matte and Todd Stevenson (managers from Real Canadian Superstore in Leamington), Pier-C Produce Inc., and Produce Wholesaler in Chatham.
“Our Thanksgiving Giveback would not be possible without the support from our members and our community partners that help make Windsor a great place to live and work,” continued Vander Voort. “Our members are proud to be part of this community and, this Thanksgiving, we want to give back to the community that we are so proud to serve.”
CUPE 543 represents over 1,500 public service workers in Windsor, including the City of Windsor (inside workers), Windsor-Essex County Health Unit, ABC Day Nursery, Windsor Occupational Health Information Service, Windsor Essex Community Housing Corporation, Prism Berlie and Great Beginnings Child Centered Co-operative, providing important public services to residents in Windsor.
For more information, please contact:
Mark Vander Voort
CUPE 543 President
519-254-3543 or 519-903-5515
Lisa Marion
CUPE National Representative
519-966-9595
James Chai
CUPE Communications
905-739-3999