On Thursday, August 29th, the Ontario IUPAT gave back to the community by supporting the children living in the Jane-Finch community. Not only were we able to provide necessary school supplies for those in need; we were also able to provide three educational scholarships. This is an annual program that IUPAT participates in each year. Since the inception of the program, IUPAT has proudly donated supplies for over 6,000 backpacks and 30 $1,000 scholarships.
Scholarships are awarded for community involvement as opposed to grades, and is open to any youth from Jane and Finch who are pursuing post-secondary education or training.
IUPAT DC 46 Business Representative Greg Smith stated the union gathers small donations from some of their contractors to go back to the community. It is a collaborative effort with our partner contractors.
Smith says “It’s the neighbourhood where our office is, and because we can, basically. A pile of small donations make a big pile of money”. He further says that Hilowle and Anderson “are fantastic”.
Greg Smith representing IUPAT Ontario
D.C. 46 BM/ST Joe Russo and Representative Greg Smith were on hand at the community bbq, where three $1,000 educational scholarships were presented to the following deserving individuals: Shannon Holness, Safia Osman and Admad Osman. CBC news provided coverage of this event where D.C. 46 BM/ST Joe Russo presented the scholarship awards on the National news broadcast.
