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Press Release - June 2023

Serenia Life Financial Raises $1,535 for Canadian Virtual Hospice to Support Those in Palliative and End-of-Life Care

Serenia Life Financial’s collective charitable impact over the past four years is over $3-million

Bingo game, snacks for sale

WATERLOO, ON | JUNE 19, 2023 — Serenia Life Financial, a member-based organization providing life insurance and investment solutions across Canada, is honoured to have provided a $1,535 donation to the Canadian Virtual Hospice (CVH). CVH is a national non-profit that provides support and personalized information about palliative and end-of-life care, loss, and grief to people with life-limiting illnesses, as well as their families, health-care providers, researchers, and educators.

“We are grateful to the team at Serenia Life Financial for choosing us as the recipient of their fundraising efforts,” said Shelly Cory, Executive Director of CVH. “This generous donation will be invested in our KidsGrief.ca platform to help parents and educators build their skills and confidence to support children and teens who are grieving a loss or expected loss. We applaud Serenia Life’s commitment to supporting communities.”

The fundraiser was part of Serenia Life’s “Action Team” initiative, which encourages members or volunteers to organize a fundraiser for a charity that is important to them. Serenia Life provides $150 in seed money to help kickstart the fundraising event and throws in a post-event donation of $100 to support the selected charity.

As a life insurer, Serenia Life chose to support CVH for this year’s Spring Action Team due to what they saw as an important connection between the Canadians both organizations serve. It was also a way to recognize the effects that grief can have on a person’s mental health during Mental Health Awareness Month.

Serenia Life’s Action Team ran throughout the month of May, and consisted of a raffle, weekly BINGO games where employees paid to play, and a snack sale with all proceeds going towards the donation goal.

The Action Team was just one of many fundraising initiatives supported by Serenia Life. The organization also awards post-secondary scholarships to members and participates in an annual hockey tournament to raise money for local homeless support agencies. Serenia Life also runs a Payroll Deduction Program, whereby employees can donate a portion of their paycheque to charities in need and Serenia Life matches that donation at the end of each year.

“At Serenia Life, we encourage our staff and our members to live generously by giving back to the community through various charitable initiatives,” said Glenn Hymers, President & CEO of Serenia Life Financial. “Our core values are rooted in kindness, empathy, collaboration, and generosity. And it is important for our organization to epitomize those values.”

Between 2018 and 2022, Serenia Life’s charitable impact was $3,245,749. Its total charitable impact between 1972 and 2022 is $56.1 million.

In addition to Serenia Life’s community support benefits and scholarship opportunities, members also receive access to caregiving courses, bereavement benefits, a baby bonus for purchasing life insurance for a newborn, first aid training, help covering the cost of volunteering away from home, access to a free legal will, and much more.

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ABOUT SERENIA LIFE FINANCIAL

Serenia Life Financial is a member-based organization that provides insurance and investment solutions to more than 33,000 members across Canada. The business manages assets of $351 million, and had $3.6 billion of in-force insurance as of December 31, 2022. Serenia Life is committed to re-investing a portion of their earnings into community outreach and unique member benefits that support members, their families, and the causes they care about. They’re on a mission to prove a business can be kind and to inspire generosity in their employees, their members, and the communities they serve.

ABOUT CANADIAN VIRTUAL HOSPICE

Canadian Virtual Hospice is the most trusted, comprehensive source of information on life-limiting illness, palliative care and grief in the world. It serves the information and support needs of more than 2.3 million people annually from every country on the globe. It operates the following platforms: VirtualHospice.ca, MyGrief.ca, KidsGrief.ca, CVHLearningHub.ca, CaregiversCAN.ca, LivingMyCulture.ca, CaringTogether.life, YouthGrief.ca, VirtualHospice.ca/2SLGBTQ, VirtualHospice.ca/MAID and French equivalent platforms. It is a division of the International Centre for Dignity and Palliative Care, Inc., a registered charity and is the recipient of 6 national and international awards.

For media inquiries, please contact: media@serenialife.ca