United Way uses 211 Day to promote phone line

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/02/2021 (1681 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Despite all the chaos that took place last year, members of United Way Brandon & District still have a reason to celebrate 211 Day tomorrow.

Local United Way chief executive officer Cynamon Mychasiw told the Sun that this public awareness campaign is designed to highlight the organization’s 211 service, which connects Canadians with a variety of health and social resources through mb.211.ca.

“When you Google something, you may find resources, but it’s not necessarily local,” she said on Tuesday. “211 promotes that locality, so it doesn’t matter where you are in the province or in the country — you can type in your region and what you’re looking for and it’ll show you exactly what’s available where you are.”

Following a recent boost in federal funding, Manitobans finally got access to a 211 phone line that had already been available in other parts of the country.

Now, Westman residents who are looking to find the right community resource can simply dial 2-1-1 to consult with members of Volunteer Manitoba, who will direct callers toward the nearest service centre listed in their database.

To Mychasiw, this represents a big step in making the 211 service more accessible to members of the public.

“Not everyone has access to a computer,” she said. “So to be able to dial 2-1-1 from anywhere and find access to the different services you need is a great thing and something we’re really happy about.”

Even though this phone line has been available to Manitobans since October 2020, Mychasiw said Brandon United Way is still going to use this upcoming 211 Day to highlight its functionality.

Outside of the standard social media marketing blitz planned for Thursday, Brandon United Way members got a head start on this awareness campaign last week by bathing the city’s iconic Dome Building in red lights.

Mychasiw hopes that these promotional tactics encourage more Westman residents to seek out financial or social assistance through 211, since managing these elements is more important than ever in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“COVID has changed a lot of things for a lot of people, with the isolation and the collective trauma that we’re going through as a society,” she said. “It’s really made us see how important things like looking after mental health, seniors in isolation, hunger and financial security are.”

Moving forward, Mychasiw also wants 211 Day to help set the tone for the United Way’s various activities throughout 2021.

Not only does the local organization plan on expanding their youth programming, but Mychasiw hopes to bring back initiatives like the Day of Caring and Summer of Service.

However, the CEO admitted that United Way Brandon & District will be facing its own fair share of challenges this coming year, since they still need to fulfil a $500,000 fundraising goal to adequately bankroll their 29 Westman agencies.

“In undesignated funds, we’re just short of what we need to be able to fund our organizations, but our board is meeting tomorrow night to come up with some solutions for that,” Mychasiw said on Tuesday. “So by the end of this month, we’ll be able to know for sure what we’re going to be able to do in this year as far as our commitments go.”

Still, Mychasiw remains optimistic about the United Way’s ability to support Westman residents in 2021, given that the community as a whole really stepped up as volunteers during last year’s Christmas hamper drive.

“We have a community that is so amazing at supporting its own,” she said.

“Even those who were facing a little bit of financial insecurity because of layoffs and furloughs … they maybe couldn’t donate funds, but they were donating their time, which is just as valuable.”

The United Way’s 211 phone line is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and is available in more than 150 languages.

» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @KyleDarbyson