The Salvation Army Helping New Canadians

Winnipeg, MB – Each year The Salvation Army provides valuable support and programs to new Canadians in our community.  One of the valuable programs offered is the Life and Employability Enhancement Program (LEEP) which provides war-affected youth, ages 15-30, insight into Canadian culture, health, job skills, safety, self-esteem and communication skills.  This program empowers newcomer youth to dream again and plan for a brighter future filled with hope and dignity.  Participants enter as isolated strangers in survival mode, but graduate as a diverse family with unique dreams to pursue and skills to help make those dreams a reality.

This month we launch our next commercial regarding The Salvation Army in the Prairies.  This commercial begins with a young man running for his life.  In the background the staccato of gunfire is heard.  As he races for his life, we see helplessness and desperation in his flight.  The commercial then fades to the same young man sitting in a Salvation Army LEEP class.  He had been remembering the terror of his former life.  The commercial ends with a Salvation Army LEEP instructor asking the young man “What’s your dream?”  The young man, from a war affected area of the world, realizes that he is safe, he can dream again.  A smile spreads across his face as he realizes the old is passed away and a new, brighter future is before him.  The spot ends with the words – The Salvation Army giving hope to New Canadians.

“The intention of this commercial is to draw attention to the fact that there are a number of people who arrive in our country with very little hope and a lot of fear.  For some, it has been a very real challenge to just survive,” explains Jonathan Hamel – Communications Coordinator, The Salvation Army Prairie Division, “They arrive in Canada full of dreams and high hopes for a better future.  Oddly, for many it seems the challenge to survive has followed them to this land of promise.  True, they may no longer fear for their lives, but there is a struggle to survive and thrive.  This is where The Salvation Army steps in to help.  We meet these people where they are.  We offer them hope, dignity and the support they need to become successfully integrated.  We connect them to community, to opportunity, to work and to success.”

This commercial is slated to run for the months of September and October 2012 on CityTV and CTV.  The spot may also be found online, along with a second online look at the new Barbara Mitchell Family Resource Centre in Winnipeg, at www.youtube.com/tsaprairie or on The Salvation Army Prairie Division Facebook page at www.facebook.com/tsa.prairie.

You can find a behind the scenes look of the commercial production on our Facebook page as well.

Notes of Thanks

We wish to thank Edgar Moses, Mal Pinlac, Michelle Strain, Wendy Park and members of The Salvation Army Barbara Mitchell Family Resource Centre for participating in the two commercials.  We also wish to acknowledge Kevin McQuade of CityTV for filming and producing the spot.  Thank you to Ryan Ghidoni of Bell Media for helping script and for producing the radio spot.  Thanks also to Carson Samson for helping provide photography services for the Barbara Mitchell Family Resource Centre commercial.