One Kilometre of Change

On July 2, 2009 the staff at Northland Utilities and the community of Yellowknife pulled together to raise $2328.36 for the Stanton Territorial Hospital Foundation. The next couple of paragraphs briefly describe the unique approach they took to do so.

It all started back in April of 2009 when one of Northland Utilities’ employees approached management with the desire to do something fresh and fun to raise funds for the Stanton Territorial Hospital Foundation. Once the staff at Northland Utilities had management’s approval, the brainstorming caps were adorned. Collectively the staff decided to raise funds through a change drive…this would be no ordinary change drive though.

There were corporate challenges, donation jars and, of course, a main event. The donation jars were strategically placed and the corporate challenges took place in the weeks prior to the main event. On June 30th the employees at Northland Utilities collected all of the change donated through the corporate challenges and change jars and calculated the length of each change donation. "Why" you ask? The length of the change donation had to be calculated to determine which group of participants would be awarded the 2009 certificate for longest donation. Once calculated, all change was placed in a kilometre long tray at the Northland Utilities yard.

During the Customer Appreciation BBQ held on July 2, Yellowknife community members took advantage of the opportunity to come out and place their change in the tray after enjoying a delicious hot dog or burger prepared by our dedicated staff – in the rain!

The goal set by the employees for this initiative was not a dollar amount, but a length. That length was one kilometre. In 2009, 649.99 metres of change were donated! We look forward to reaching our goal of one kilometre in 2010.

Thank you to everyone who showed support for the Stanton Territorial Hospital Foundation during our 13th Annual Customer Appreciation BBQ. We would also like to congratulate the Workers Safety and Compensation Commission for rolling in with the longest donation – an incredible 155 metres!