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WHO WAS THAT MASKED SUPERHERO? Submitted by ENWIN Utilities
Peirce Marshall describes the 2020 Community Support Plan, formalized by ENWIN’s Community Support Committee in late 2019, as a substantial volunteer and events-driven initiative, promoting community education related to diversity and inclusion through public-facing events with organizations like the Multicultural Council of Windsor and Essex County, Build a Dream, and the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers.
And then COVID struck
ENWIN Superhero Volunteer Mona Khalil attends the Build a Dream International Day of the Girl virtual event.
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or many years, the Windsor non-profit community has relied upon, and benefitted from, the work of ENWIN’s employee-driven Community Support Committee, which has delivered a heavily events-based fundraising and volunteer program, with help from dozens of employee volunteers, known as the ENWIN Superheroes. Together, they have supported hundreds of local events, and raised many thousands of dollars for local non-profit and charitable organizations. ENWIN’s Manager of Corporate Communications, Barbara Peirce Marshall, who is responsible for the philanthropic program, says the company is proud of the caring and generous spirit exhibited by its employees. “From health to safety, to education, our Superheroes have demonstrated over and over again, what they are made of,” she says. “We have never proposed an event or a fundraiser for which they didn’t step up. It is an honour to work with them.”
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“By March, we were ready to roll it out,” she says. “And then COVID struck with a fury that decimated the world of events-based community support, and threatened the very existence of some of the non-profit organizations that rely on companies like ENWIN.” It was a stressful and difficult moment, with all partners scrambling to ensure the health and safety needs of their employees, as they figured out how to continue to meet community obligations. Many non-profits were struggling to find alternative ways to fulfil their sponsorship promises, and still pay their employees. One by one, the events of the season were cancelled. But that didn’t end the discussion – or the desire of ENWIN employees to help their community. John-Paul Bonadonna, who coordinates the activities of the Community Support Committee, went to work scheduling virtual meetings with committee members and community partners. “After some initial discussion, we all recognized that public events must give way to a very different style and format,” he explains. “Instead of sending volunteers out into the THE DISTRIBUTOR
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WINTER 2020-21
