Pulling together in a good cause

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Winnipeg Sun, Saturday September 20, 2008
Reproduced with permission.

 Pulling planes, raising money -- a lot of heavy lifting was officially launched yesterday as the United Way of Winnipeg's latest campaign kicked off.

But with some solid preliminary work, several donor companies have helped lighten the load.

The local 2008 campaign was already 36% of the way toward its $17,875,768 goal when Premier Gary Doer, business leaders, non-profit groups and others gathered at Stevenson Aviation & Aerospace Training Centre to begin the fundraising effort with Plane Pull 5: United -- a friendly competition involving about 1,400 people.

For a couple of hours, some 40 teams from the business, non-profit, government and labour sectors pulled together at the St. James hangar complex, each squad striving to move a Boeing 727 jet or a large industrial-strength snowblower farther than the others.

The effort, symbolizing the teamwork and enthusiasm in raising cash for charities, continued to prove its popularity.

"This is the fifth time," campaign chairman Bob Silver said of the event.

"Everyone keeps saying, 'Maybe we should do something different.' But this is such an exciting event, and everybody loves it. If it's working, don't change it. It's fantastic."

The hundreds of participants heard at a launch ceremony that $6.5 million has been gathered by workplaces getting started and even completing their portions early. The overall sum aimed for is about 8% -- or nearly $1 million -- more than last year's campaign goal.

"We're really hoping to go beyond that," Silver said during the event, which was emcee'd by Winnipeg Sun columnist and radio host Ace Burpee. "There is a commitment here to helping other people. It's a fun event, and it builds up some camaraderie with the various companies that do this."