As we prepare to launch this year’s campaign, we thought it helpful to highlight the long history of charity support that Federated Health has. As you may know, Federated Health was started by OPS employees who wanted to be able to support health charities in the same way that United Way allowed them to support social service charities. These employees chose one health charity, the Canadian Cancer Society, and began fundraising. After seeing success with that they decided to add another charity, then another, and another. Well, as you can see below, that 1 charity turned in to 20 charities over the years. As the campaign has grown and the OPS support has been continuously strong we have tried to respond to community need, pressing issues in the health sector, and employee demand by bringing on new charities.
In line with our mission, we have continued to respond to community and employee needs and this past year shone a light on the need to do our part to combat anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism. These communities experience systemic racism and health inequity with many illnesses not receiving the resources and support they need. Federated Health strives to represent the health needs of the diverse population of the OPS and the province it serves, so we want to do our part to ensure that illnesses plaguing Black and Indigenous communities are receiving adequate support. With that, we are pleased to introduce our 21st charity, the Sickle Cell Awareness Group of Ontario. For more information on what sickle cell disease is and the needs of this community read here and we ask you to stand with us to show this organization, and the incredible work they do, some support.