Advocacy through art

Andy Aodisho is a United Way Workplace Champion at Reliance Home Comfort and an active member of United Way's Emerging Philanthropists. He's showing his local love for Windsor-Essex by releasing a song he wrote and recorded about the importance of making childhood poverty #UNIGNORABLE in our community.

Through his artistry, Andy is helping to raise $40,000 towards starting a Downtown Windsor cohort of students in United Way's On Track to Success program. The goal is to launch the new student cohort in the Fall of 2021.

Sound Producer: Kevin Robert Jarvis. Recorded at: KRJ Studio
Video Producer: George Yokhana @george.yokhana

Read about what inpsired Andy's creativity:

"Last year, I was sitting front row center at United Way's #UNIGNORABLE Campaign Kick-Off event where I watched a local spoken word artist named Kat Moscone perform a poem she had written about childhood poverty in Windsor-Essex. It inspired me. I listened to the Chair of the Campaign and the CEO of United Way speak about the issues affecting children and youth in our community, and their words moved me. 

After the presentation, the audience was given a piece of paper and asked to write down what they can do to help make change in our community, and I wrote "make a song."

Several weeks later, I was helping United way's Emerging Philanthropists paint a wall in downtown Windsor to help raise awareness of their #UNIGNORABLE campaign. A few members of the group heard about what I had written down on the piece of paper and asked if I was interested in writing and recording a song about childhood poverty in our community.

The next day, I installed a furnace and air conditioner at a customer's house, and they happened to have a recording studio in their home. I felt like it was a sign, and it pushed me to create the song.

I see childhood poverty in our community on a regular basis. I visit customer homes daily, sometimes for eight hours a day, and I see the conditions some children live in. I come from humble beginnings, and now that I'm fortunate enough to give, I feel it's my responsibility to share with those who are less fortunate." - Andy Aodisho