To celebrate National Engineering Month in Canada, WalterFedy hosted a virtual event on March 10 with NEM Ontario and OSPE. Our virtual event, Pitch Perfect: Refining Your Interview Skills, consisted of an hour-long panel and open Q&A session featuring Matt Woods, Tyler Bowman, and Samantha Farrow from our Engineering Services team, along with Talent Acquisition Manager, Amanda Poll, and moderated by Human Resources Assistant, Jody Godwaldt. 

After welcoming 46 virtual attendees from all over the country, our panelists shared their experiences, discussed what makes a great interview, and revealed tips and tricks to help students and new graduates break into the working world with success. Following the presentation, we had a lively Q&A session where our panelists had a great time engaging with participants. As an added bonus for attendees, we are also providing a handful with the opportunity to participate in a one-on-one resume review with a human resources or engineering professional. We want to help the next generation of engineers polish their CV’s and perfect their pitch, so they are prepared for the job market upon graduation.

Thank you to OSPE and NEM Ontario for collaborating with us and providing the platform to engage with future engineers across the country. Another big thank you to our panel for generously sharing their expertise. We could not have pulled it off without you! Happy National Engineering Month!

And just like that, after seven fantastic weeks, our 70+ Acts of Good campaign has come to an end. When we set out to celebrate WalterFedy’s 70th Anniversary, we knew we had to do something that would include and benefit the community around us.

In the final three weeks, we covered a lot of ground, including purchasing 70 trees through the Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) to be planted in the Waterloo Region via their Give Grand program. This isn’t the first time we’ve teamed up with the GRCA and we hope to work with them again to help plant some of those trees!

After a successful run at Community Fridge KW, we connected with Community Fridges Hamilton to fill up the Beasley Fridge in Downtown Hamilton for three days. Like their Kitchener counterpart, Community Fridges Hamilton provides 24/7 low-barrier access to free food provided entirely by the community. We were happy to play a small part in filling their fridges for a week and look forward to supporting them again in the future.

We also purchased seven essential items from YWCA's wish list for their affordable and supportive housing project on Block Line. We’ve been providing project management services to this project and were happy to give back and help support a build that is so important to the Waterloo Region.

We wrapped up the campaign by delivering 401lbs of food and $915 to the Food Bank of Waterloo Region. That translates to 3,060 meals to help feed our hungry neighbours. In Hamilton, our team rallied to provide an assortment of festive gifts that will be distributed through the Good Shepherd this holiday season. 

We’re sad that the campaign is over, but after a long 2021, this was the perfect way to end the year. We might be 70, but we’re feeling spritely heading into 2022. We're looking forward to finding new and exciting ways to live out our core value of community building over the next 70 years! 

This year marks our 8th annual year participating in the Hockey Helps the Homeless (HHTH) tournament to help raise funds in support of five local charities. This year, Lutherwood, House of Friendship, Cambridge Shelter Corporation, oneROOF Youth Services, and YW K-W Emergency Shelter will split the funds raised at the tournament, set to take place on Friday, October 29th.

Our Team Captain, Patrick Darby, has been involved with HHTH since WalterFedy began participating in 2014. When asked why he joined the team all those years ago, he had many reasons. “First and foremost, I share WalterFedy’s corporate value of community involvement,” he shares. “It’s also a great opportunity for our employees to come together to support important fundraising initiatives in the community.”

This year, the day of the tournament will be structured a little differently, but that hasn’t dampened any of the anticipation for gameday. “With current Public Health guidelines in place, the tournament will look a little different but that won’t stop us from enjoying the day,” said Patrick. “With the cancellation of last year’s tournament, we’re eager to hit the ice this year.”

In past years, our HHTH team organized various fundraising events in the office to help meet the team’s fundraising goal. Because of COVID-19, the team has been unable to host their usual events like the much-anticipated company barbecue, jeans and jersey day, and bake sale. This has forced our participants to double down on their individual fundraising efforts to meet the team’s fundraising goal of $15,000.

In addition to organizing the team and fundraising leading up to the event, as Captain, Patrick is also responsible for team coordination on the day of the tournament. But it can’t be all work and no play for the team. “I really like hockey, so this is a natural fit for me,” explained Patrick.

We couldn’t complete our interview without asking Patrick if WalterFedy has ever brought home the winning trophy. “Well no. But it doesn’t matter! It’s not the driver behind why we’re there. It’s about hitting the ice to support local organizations doing great work in our community.”

WalterFedy is hosting its second virtual rotating art show. Since 2019, WalterFedy has partnered with Art$Pay to display artwork in our office, made by local talent. The initiative's original goal was to brighten the shared spaces in our office with rotating artwork for clients and staff to enjoy. 

When the pandemic hit and our office was closed, the scheduled art installation went ahead as planned. But with very few people in the office, it wasn’t getting the attention it deserved. We were also unable to host a gallery launch to celebrate the artists and enjoy their work with family and friends. Naturally, like so many other things during the pandemic, we took the new art installation online and made it virtual to ensure our local artists, and their creations, could get the attention they deserve.

Art$Pay is a local program that provides an opportunity for local artists to showcase their artwork while making a profit regardless of if their work sells while on display or not. Often, when artists publicly display their work, they receive nothing unless a piece is sold. The Art$Pay model is much fairer for these creators as they receive exposure and remuneration for their work.

The latest installation from Art$Pay, which runs until August 31, 2021, is named "Lifting Spirits." All pieces were selected for their feeling of inspiration and optimism; a little something to help lift all our spirits during these challenging times. 

Our Office Coordinator, Tori Coles, helps facilitate the program and believes the program is a meaningful way to contribute and give back to our community. 

"Paying artists for the use of their displayed artwork helps to address the sustainability challenges faced by the local visual arts sector, and this program is an amazing community role model, where too often free exposure is the offer."  We are proud to support the arts within our local community.

Please enjoy the following video and feel free to reach out to Art$Pay directly to purchase any of the pieces. You can also visit their website to see what other artists are working on in the community. All proceeds go back to the artists in our Region who help keep the arts thriving.  

Thank you to Art$Pay, Cathy Farwell, and all of the incredibly talented artists whose work is featured in this video. Check out https://artspay.org/ for more information.