Sincere Gratitude

PenFinancial Credit Union is a values-based financial co-operative that believes the prosperity of our members and our community go hand in hand.

Our Truly Local Commitment to Niagara includes giving back 10% of our pre-tax profits to our community; always buying locally first, sourcing local suppliers, vendors and businesses that share like- minded values; being a Champion level Living Wage employer and a certified B Corporation business leader who is driven by purpose and always puts people before profit.

Most importantly, we’ve made a Truly Local Commitment to work collaboratively to address challenges like poverty, homelessness and the mental health crisis that Niagara is currently experiencing. This is why we chose to partner with the YWCA – to help put a face to the homelessness crisis so that everyone can see and experience what homelessness looks like and understand that the YWCA is working hard to support the our most vulnerable neighbours to improve their lives and strengthen communities.

None of this would have happened, if it wasn’t for image maker Michal Pasco. When Michal approached us with the idea for the campaign, we were amazed by his genuine desire to help give people a face, who are often forgotten. People, who we tend to turn away from, people who we like to pretend aren’t there.

Michal has donated hours and hours of his time to make this campaign a success, to make it perfect, to make sure it stays true to what he envisioned when he first came to us at the YW. You are a remarkable artist and a kind soul and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the hard work and passion you poured into YW FACES.

To learn more about his incredible work, please visit his website.

It is one thing to have an idea, and it’s a totally different thing to bring an idea to life. Projecting a video onto a wall in downtown St. Catharines and making sure that people will come out to be in the right place at the right time turned out to be a much bigger challenge than we had initially anticipated. Enter the wonderful Deanna Jones from Suitcase In Point, organizer of In The Soil Festival. When we first met with Deanna to talk about YW FACES, she immediately thought that this project would be a great fit for In The Soil, and committed to helping us bring our launch idea to life. Deanna, we want to thank you and your In The Soil and Suitcase In Point team for all of your support. We truly could not have done it without you. What an amazing partnership!

John Armstrong has been a passionate supporter of the YWCA Niagara Region for many years now. He is the Chair of our YtheW Capital Campaign, which will bring an entirely new facility to St. Catharines, adding to Niagara’s affordable housing stock and keeping families together in a time of need. When we told John about YW FACES, his response was “what do you need?” He has kept this promise to provide support wherever possible. John Armstrong and Cindy Goldrick, one of his Senior Associates helped us define what this campaign would need to be successful. They have continued to share their expertise along the way, and we are truly grateful for their generous and passionate support.

Oli at Altuna Design gets a special shout-out for his incredible patience with us. It was so important to us not to reveal images prior to the launch event, to find the perfect logo, to find visuals that speak to the campaign without revealing too much… Oli, you kept coming up with new ideas, and you found incredible ways to take our feedback to create different pieces until we had it right.  Thank you for donating your skills to this important campaign and for designing beautiful pieces that speak about YW FACES.

Josh Kalogerakos blew us away with his sheer talent and passion for this project. This incredible young Laura Secord alumnus did not think twice about offering his support for YW FACES. Josh not only wrote an original piece of music, inspired by the images, but he also helped us get the Laura Secord Jazz Choir involved, he recorded the piece, produced it, and organized the live performance of the choir for the event launch. You are going to go far in life, Josh, thank you so much for donating your incredible talent to the YW!

As soon as we saw the first portraits for this campaign, we knew that the music that would go with YW FACES would have to be unique. We wanted to see the emotions of the images reflected in the sound that would accompany them. Laura Secord Secondary School not only has an excellent music program, they are also always prepared to use their talent for the good of the community. We are thrilled that their jazz choir, under the leadership of Katryna Sacco, was open to supporting YW FACES. Thank you for donating your talent and for elevating this campaign with your beautiful voices.

Last but not least, we thank Jim Kalogerakos at STAT Analytics for all of the work he has done for this campaign. Jim likes to stay behind the scenes but we hope you know how much we have valued your support. Your connections, your creative ideas and also very much your moral support have been vital to the success of YW FACES. Thank you for donating your time, thank you for being such a passionate supporter of the work we do at the YW.