Why donate to the Provincial Employees Community Services Fund?

Narrator:  Have you every wondered how your PECSF donation gets to the charity?
[Circus music. Man at desk imagines many workers at desks, processing coins and taking notes. A man screams from pain from signing so many forms. Knock at a door. Woman answers door.] Woman: Hey! Aren't you the honorary chair of PECSF? [Man hands her a bag of money.] Thanks! Man walking therapy dog is handed a cheque.
Narrator: Aren't you the creative one? Actually, the cheques to your favourite charities go out twice a year and the process is more like this.
[Orderly meeting of three people at a table, signing a contract. Workers photocopying and stuffing envelopes. A worker handing mail to someone at a desk.]
Worker: The cheques are ready to be mailed now.
Man at desk: That makes sense.
Narrator: On behalf of all the charities supported throughout the province, thank you for making your donation through the community fund.
[Narrator shows up at man's office door with bags of money] Narrator: Hey, John! Can you take care of this for me? [Narrator throws bag of money at the man.]

:01. Wes Shoemaker, Emergency Management BC: My name is Wes Shoemaker and I'm the associate deputy minister for Emergency Management BC. This year I have the privilege of being the honorary chair of employee driven philanthropic initiative where, um, I guess all of our provincial employees work to raise money to invest back into the community.

0:23. Kashi Tanaka, Ministry of Housing and Social Development: It's really easy for me. it just comes off my paycheque. In terms of donating money, it doesn't actually cost me anything. Just twenty dollars off my paycheque every week - I don't actually feel it. And yet at the end of the year, you feel kind of special becuase you have donated 200-500 dollars, or whatever it is, to really good causes.

0:40. Elaine Balul, Ministry of Housing and Social Development: I give to PECSF because I see, through where I work with the Ministry of Housing and Social Development, where the needs are in our community. And I feel it's an avenue that we can give back.

0:51: Myke Chutter, Ministry of Environment: I'm not the most philanthropic person in the world. Why do I give? The short answer is because I can afford to and it makes me feel good. I'm somewhat suspicious of some charities - I don't know what they are. The community fund does a vetting of all the charities so that makes me feel good and confident that the people that my money is going to need it.

1:13. Heather Orr, Ministry of Environment: I give to the community fund for a number of reasons but I think the most important reason for me is that I get to choose where I put my donations to. And I can choose the organizations that mean something to myself and they mean something to my family and that's really important to me.

1:31. Wes Shoemaker: Being involved in PECSF has personal meaning to me for a couple of reasons. First of all, I spent over twenty-five years as a firefighter, as a paramedic and a fire chief, and I saw communities in need and although government organizations do help out, there are many gaps that are often covered by charitable organizations and other programs, agencies of which PECSF supports. So I've seen the need and I know what a difference people can make. It also has a personal feel for me. Growing up as a family with six other siblings, I had a sister who was blind and had benefited from the CNIB, again an agency such that PECSF supports. And I know what an important difference it made, in her life and in the life of our family, and to me it's a chance to give back to our community.

Text on screen: What is your favourite PECSF charity?

Speaker 1: Well, my favourite charity is actually diabetes, because I've been affected with it in my immediate family. So we've always been really big advocates for that charity - we've always donated strictly to them, well, not strictly, but the majority.

Speaker 2: I really like Oxfam. Oxfam is one of those charities that I know has interactions with a lot of local level champions for crisis relief.

Speaker 3: Cancer fundraising, because too many people are still losing loved ones and friends to that disease.

Speaker 4: My favourite charity would be the Victoria Women's Transition House. I really appreciate that they have a local presence. I think it is very important to support women and children. That's why it's my favourite charity.

Speaker 5: I have a number of charities I try to support. One is the Stephen Lewis Foundation that supports the AIDS epidemic in Africa, Cancer Foundation, because a number of our family members have been touched by cancer, and the Heart and Stroke Foundation as well.

Speaker 6: I would have to say the Salvation Army and those kinds of charities because, uh, they help the people most in need, in my mind.

Speaker 7: United Way Victoria.

Speaker 8:  I would say the Canadian Red Cross, because they did such a great job last year when there was that big earthquake that hit the Schezuan Province in China.

Speaker 9: My favourite charity is the Alzheimer's Association.

Speaker 10: I guess for me it's the cancer association and the research wing. I've had family who have been affected by cancer so it is very close to my heart.

Speaker 11: Well, every year it changes. This year I donate to the BC Transplant Society and that's because I have a family member who is currently a part of that. Every year, I usually do something hands on, like a summer camp or cancer...It changes year to year."