ICMIF member Trillium Mutual Insurance (Canada) has announced a CAD 50,000 donation through its ROOTS Community Fund to support 4-H Ontario’s Taking Our Mental Health to Heart programme. The programme equips young people in Ontario with the skills and knowledge to adapt to mental health challenges through hands-on learning.
“Trillium Mutual Insurance is a community-minded mutual, and we want to invest in our communities in a meaningful way. Mental health challenges affect all of us and our contribution to the 4-H Ontario programme to educate youth and equip them with life-long skills to cultivate a healthy mindset is an investment we are proud to make,” said Tracy MacDonald, President & CEO of Trillium Mutual.
Trillium Mutual’s donation offers 4-H Ontario the ability to develop and implement a long-term programme that will improve the mental health of over 6,000 young people across the province. Through strategies and training that will be included in both local and provincial opportunities, 4-H will ensure that young people have the resilience tools necessary for long-term success.
Trillium Mutual Insurance also recently announced a CAD 5,000 donation through Farm Mutual Re’s Mutual Support Initiative to support WES for Youth in providing free online counselling services to young people in need. Since COVID-19 began, the number of young people accessing WES for Youth services has tripled, to over 290, and they have provided over 400 hours of online counselling in the last three months. Having access to mental health resources during this time, is critical for many young people and Trillium Mutual believes that they can contribute by helping provide resources for those most in need.
“We know that in order to support rural Ontario, young people living in those communities need to have better access to mental health resources. They have so much to offer us and so much potential, that providing increased access to these services will help them address and learn how to ask for help when dealing with stress, anxiety and other mental health issues,” commented Tracy MacDonald.
In May this year, ICMIF member Farm Mutual Re provided each of its 48 voting member companies and one wholly-owned subsidiary with a one-time payment of CAD 41,000 so they were empowered to support local charitable causes during this challenging time. In total, over CAD 2 million (USD 1.5 million) will be donated back into communities across Canada. Trillium Mutual – one of Farm Mutual Re’s member companies – will be using these funds to support mental health initiatives as an extension of its Roots Fund Signature Donation towards mental health support across Ontario.
Trillium Mutual has a long history of community support and has invested more than CAD 1 million through the ROOTS Community Fund since its inception in 2014. The ROOTS Fund contributes to the sustainability of rural communities in Ontario and focuses its support in key areas, such as: healthcare, emergency response, mental wellness, recreation, and agriculture sustainability. In May this year, Trillium Mutual donated CAD 100,000 through its ROOTS Fund to support mental health initiatives and programmes that are directly helping farmers and rural communities across Ontario that were struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic.
