United Way Chosen For Community Airtime Award

You will be hearing a lot more about the local United Way on Kiss FM over the next few months.

The charity, which raises funds for more than 30 non profit groups and services in the North Okanagan, Columbia and Shuswap, is the latest recipient of the Kiss FM Community Airtime Award, co-sponsored by Lake City Casino.

Photo: Kiss FM sales manager Bryan Ford (left), and Lake City casino general manager Ryan Doherty present Kiss FM Community Airtime Award to United Way executive director Linda Yule.

United Way executive director Linda Yule says as part of the award, United Way receives 35 thousand dollars in radio advertising over the next six months.

“We’re such a small United Way covering this huge area, and to be able to reach out to everybody with this message over your airways, is such a phenomenal opportunity,” says Yule.

Yule says they’ll use the ads to promote what they do for their annual fundraiser.

“We’re trying to turn people’s lives around, focusing on kids, families, seniors and people with disabilities, which sort of sounds like the whole gamut, but it’s helping them have a good life,” adds Yule.

Ryan Doherty, general manager of program-partner Lake City Casino, says it’s always a tough choice to decide which group gets the twice yearly award.

“There is so many worthy non profits out there, so a big thing we look at  is we want to make sure it stays in the community and it’s going to have the biggest effect in the community.”

Doherty says the award gives groups new ways to promote themselves.

“They’re often going to the same functions, the same businesses in town, or the awareness campaign is driven around the same events each year, and this is really an opportunity to spring board their messaging to a while different audience.”

The other past recipients of the award are the Canadian Mental Health Association and the North Okanagan Neurological Association.

Click here for more on the United Way.