Post Office puts their own stamp on charity

Employees at Stayner Post Office are boosting their fundraising efforts for the Canada Post Community Foundation.
Darlene MacIver, the postmaster since August, and her colleagues are putting their own stamp on a national program to benefit children.
MacIver transferred from the Post Office in Nobleton where the program had grown over the years to be a tremendous success. She said the campaign is near-and-dear to her because it helps to have a positive impact on a child’s life and she has seen first hand the benefit it has had on children, whether they need an assistive device or skates.
It’s a new program in Stayner and MacIver and her staff are starting small but hope it will gain momentum over the years. They have received a lot of support from the community and local businesses.
“The support is phenomenal,” said MacIver. “The people in this community have big hearts and they are so willing to give.”
The Foundation raises money through customer donations in post offices, employee payroll deduction and the sale of a special stamp issued each year. This year’s firefly stamp will raise funds for distribution in 2022. Stamps can be purchased at local post offices, where additional donations can be made, with funds going to organizations that operate in the province or territory in which they are raised.
In addition to funds received from the Foundation’s firefly stamp sales, the post office is selling donated Popits – the latest craze in fidget toys – and hockey prints, and they received other donations from local businesses. The post office employees are also wearing T-shirts sporting a dragonfly, made by Darlene’s daughter, Cindy MacIver, to promote the Foundation and the stamps.
The Canada Post Community Foundation awarded $1.2 million in grants to 100 groups to improve the lives of Canadian children. Darlene and her colleagues’ efforts will contribute to next year’s program during a month-long community fundraising campaign that started on Sept. 20.
This year, Elephant Thoughts Educational Outreach in Collingwood was one of 100 different groups selected as a grant recipient. Elephant Thoughts received $16,142.40 for equipment, business training and resources to create Indigenous makerspaces in the Saugeen, Lac Seul and Sachigo First Nations. It was one of 17 grants totalling about $270,000 that will go to programs that support Indigenous youth. Canada Post is committed to fostering reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, partly through funding of community programs that support Indigenous children and youth.
Established in 2012, the Foundation is a registered charity that operates at arm’s length from Canada Post. It has granted $11 million to more than 1,000 initiatives for children and youth nationwide, including literacy and language programs; youth outreach services; projects that support Indigenous youth; gender and sexual diversity programs; arts and recreation projects; special education programs; childhood health programs; anti-bullying initiatives; mentoring programs and many others.
MacIver hopes to raise awareness about the grant program so that more local groups will apply for funding in the spring.