He has been involved with United Way on and off since 1994 when he entered management, starting with campaigns in his workplace. Last year he moved on to the United Way board and is looking forward to driving fundraising this coming year.
The reasons are clear – “United Way is all-encompassing – it helps every area,” says Zamin. “And the money is spent where you live and work. It handles local needs rather than national needs.”
That’s important to Zamin who was born and raised in Guelph. The married father of two has spent all but 14 years living locally and he’s proud of the place he calls home. We live in a prosperous region. But ironically that very prosperity breeds greater need. It’s something Zamin saw when lived in Collingwood in the late 1990s.
When Intrawest Resorts was coming in to Blue Mountain, the Mayor of Collingwood asked Zamin and some local business people to head off to Mont Tremblanc and report back on the impact Intrawest had when it invested there. They saw the incredible value the company brought to the community, but the startling thing to Zamin was, “how huge the strain on Tremblanc’s social services was. Mental health issues, everything”
The lesson was clear to him. Prosperity doesn’t evenly sugar-coat a community, and the downside increases a community’s needs and puts a tremendous strain on social services.
It’s a valuable lesson and one that Zamin says applies to the prosperous Waterloo Region. “My kids are relatively fortunate and we live comfortably, but we can’t forget that there are a lot of people who aren’t that fortunate.” The kids who can’t afford to play soccer, the ones who need counselling or help for their families so they don’t go hungry.
“We have an amazing economy here,” says Zamin. “It’s easy to forget the strain on local agencies and resources but we can be proactive. We can get to kids at risk early. It’s proactive use of money to make kids feel connected.…. So they don’t become bullies or drop out. It’s all prevention and the payoff is high for the kids we help and the community as a whole.”
Zamin says we’ve got some great traditions of helping out neighbours here, and points to the Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, the co-CEOs of Research In Motion who contribute hundreds of millions to local institutions. They are models of philanthropy who are “creating a philanthropic footprint for others to follow.” But the United Way needs the whole community to get involved and support it and that’s where the campaign cabinet comes.
Without the fundraising and the cash it generates there wouldn’t be United Way so Zamin is committed to expanding the United Way brand. As chair he figures he’ll be able to impact that.
Zamin says United Way has been working for the past few years to expand the brand to include more business sectors, just as they have been researching where community investment will make the biggest difference and define the local priorities. He’s as big fan of United Way staff and fellow volunteers; describing United Way CEO Jan Varner as “fantastic,” and members of the Board and Campaign Cabinet as “excellent.”
Traditionally volunteer and donation support for United Way has come from manufacturers and unions – the groups being hit hardest by the changing economy. “We need to continue working with our traditional partners,” says Zamin, “but it’s a whole new economy – high tech, health sciences, pharma, and education, are driving it. We’ve already started working to attract people and businesses in the new sectors, but we need to keep working to bring young people on board.” He says the new knowledge workers are a valuable resource for the community and they respond well when approached. The challenge is to make United Way more inclusive without forgetting long-time contributors.
One way of reaching out is to emphasize how volunteering builds skills, skills those employee volunteers take back and put into practice where they work. “You learn networking skills by getting involved with people,” says Zamin, “but pick a skill you want to develop and I guarantee there’s a volunteer position at United Way that will help you develop it.” Then there’s the boost to company morale that getting involved with United Way provides.
Zamin switched employers so he could move back here. Now he's committed to making a difference – isnt that something we should all be doing?
E-mail your comments to
dean-jan@rogers.com.
dean-jan@rogers.com.
