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Members and Locals of Canada’s neighbourhood union, UFCW Canada, have raised more than $1.4 million dollars in their latest annual campaign to support the lifesaving and lifechanging work of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada (LLSC). Since adopting the LLSC as their charity of choice in 1985, the UFCW family of members, Local Unions, and activists have now raised over $45.1 in support of the LLSC.
The monies raised are used to support research and programs to find a cure, provide better therapies and patient support, and raise public awareness of leukemia, lymphoma, and other blood cancers. UFCW Canada members are your neighbours working in grocery stores, food processing plants, health care facilities, The Beer Store, security, hospitality, logistics, and other sectors of the economy, with many on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In the face of these challenging times, members of the UFCW family continue to show their resolve to help their neighbours and their communities, as well as the thousands of families across this country whose lives have been touched by blood cancers,” says Paul Meinema, the national president of UFCW Canada. “We share a collective gratitude for the combined efforts of the UFCW family across Canada in saving lives today, and we will continue to work together to make leukemia, lymphoma, and other blood cancers a thing of the past.”
In a typical year, UFCW Canada members, Local Unions, and allies organize and participate in numerous fundraising activities, including Light the Night walks to raise money for the fight against blood cancers. But the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the cancellation of many of these events, including the Leukemia Bottle Drive – an annual Ontario-wide, May-weekend co-operative fundraiser between UFCW members and The Beer Store that converts deposits on bottles into donations to the LLSC. But even with the bottle drive canceled, bottle donations throughout the year still raised over $800,000.
The overall annual fundraising for the LLCS also supports the UFCW Canada Award for Leukemia Research. This year’s award was presented by the LLSC to Dr. Doris Howell, RN, PhD, and Dr. Samantha Mayo, RN, PhD, to support their development of an interactive digital platform to enhance self-care, decision making, and quality of life for blood cancer patients.
“Thank you to the UFCW Canada family of members and Local Unions across the country,” says LLSC President Alicia Talarico. “Your incredible ongoing support has made a huge difference to families facing blood cancers, and to the development of treatments that have led to higher survival rates and a better quality of life.”
You can find out more about the UFCW Canada family’s history of LLSC fundraising at ufcw.ca/leukemia. To learn more about the The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada (LLSC), visit www.llscanada.org.
