Manitobans most generous in Canada, StatsCan report says
Sara Calnek | CBC News | Posted: February 17, 2015 11:51 PM | Last Updated: February 18, 2015
Manitobans are generous people.
According to a new Statistics Canada report released Tuesday, 25 per cent of Manitobans donated to charitable organizations in 2013, making Manitoba the most generous of all the provinces.
Manitobans gave about $390 per person, beating the national average of $280.
Manitoban Michael Gies has been donating for close to 15 years. He donates about six per cent of his salary to the United Way.
Gies started giving to United Way in 1999 by joining an at-work donation campaign and continued with his payroll deductions.
Gies and his wife are now giving at a trailblazer donor level, meaning that they give between $5,000 and $7,500 every year.
"My wife and I are incredibly lucky that we don't need the access to charity that unfortunately a lot of other families do," Gies said. "If you have the means, you should support, because you never know if you're going to need it."
The couple picked the United Way as their charity because they said their money then reaches more than a hundred different agencies.