Interview with Jacinthe Phaneuf, General manager of Promutuel Vallée of St-Laurent

-Can you tell me a bit more about Promutuel Vallée du St-Laurent and its commitment to the local community?

We have been a proud local mutual insurance company for some 170 years and community involvement is in our DNA. And something we are immensely proud of!

True to our mutualist values, supporting the community in our area is something we take very seriously. That is why we have been supporting for a great number of years organizations who primarily help both youngsters and elders. Our employees expressed their great willingness to make a difference in the lives of these people, who are often among society’s most vulnerable.

What’s more, each year, our workers give of their time during Co-op Week. We believe that making a donation is as important as giving some of our time. This helps promote strong values of sharing and giving to those who may not have been so lucky with our employees.

Additionally, we are the first mutual insurance company to introduce a system that helps us share dividends with our community, giving money back to the people in our area.

-What led you to commit to supporting Marie-Vincent for the next 5 years?

The well-being of children is something we have always believed in.  We heard of the Marie-Vincent Foundation, and took a closer look at your mission to help young victims of violence and your project to open a child advocacy centre in the Montérégie area.

We were quickly won over by the seriousness of your organization. And I can tell you that we have a great deal of confidence in the Marie-Vincent Foundation and its work, entirely devoted to the cause of children and teenagers victim of sexual violence. We are well aware that the needs in our area are great and that few services to help our youngsters are available. That is why we were deeply moved by your project and easily convinced to get involved. It will be an undeniable asset for our area and we are very proud to do our part.

-What impact do you think this collaboration may have on Promutuel and its employees?

To begin with, I want to reiterate that we are thrilled to become one of Marie-Vincent’s partners. We shared the news with our employees and they are looking forward to our collaboration. It was also very well received by our members.

Our collaboration with Marie-Vincent will help us raise awareness and inform our staff about the significant issues you deal with and that may affect them. In fact, many are parents or grandparents and they take the well-being of their children very seriously. The prevention tools you created will help them be better equipped should they, one day, also have to deal with a situation of violence.

As mentioned earlier, in relation to our mutualist initiatives, our employees are regularly asked to give some of their time or to make a financial contribution to different community organizations who speak to our values.  The Marie-Vincent Foundation champions a cause they are very invested in and will certainly generate great involvement on their part, either with their time or through a financial contribution.

Generally speaking, it will help us raise our employees’ awareness of the importance of your mission to help our youngsters and call on them to get involved too.

We are committed to helping you build a protective community and to be its proud partner.

-What are your hopes for the future of the Marie-Vincent Foundation?

We hope nothing but the best for the Marie-Vincent Foundation in the coming years. We sincerely hope that others will follow our lead and help give you the means to fulfill your ambition for our children. We believe it is very important that you have the necessary human and monetary resources to meet the ever-increasing demand for services. Everyone must do their part if we want to live in a better world for our kids.

We also hope that Marie-Vincent will become more widely known with the general public. We would like to hear more about you. It would help people across Québec know you better and understand, as we do, that supporting you is truly important to ensure our kids will develop to their best potential. We will also do our part to help you in this endeavour.

-What is your greatest dream for our younger people?

We hope nothing but the best for every child and teenager across Québec, and hope to provide them with a world without violence, whether physical, sexual or psychological.  We hope to see our children develop to their best potential and thrive in a world where there is love and respect. I would like them to grow up with as much love as I was given during my childhood. Children must be our priority—they are our society’s future!