Happy Pride Week!

Happy Pride! We just had to mark the occasion by celebrating an employee who has been instrumental in building Winnipeg’s Pride festivities.

Since 2014, Barry Karlenzig, VP of Programming at Pride Winnipeg, has helped the festival grow to a weekend-long celebration, drawing tens of thousands of supporters.

Barry is an Account Assistant here at CWB National Leasing, so with all these responsibilities, he’s pretty busy this time of year!

Barry Karlenzig stands outside CWB National Leasing with the Pride flag flying behind him.

“CWB National Leasing has helped me by allowing me to have some flexibility in my schedule,” says Barry. “It’s really allowed me to keep my work up to date while I work on Pride Winnipeg projects.”

Another employee that has made a big impact on Pride Winnipeg is Micaela Reeve. She helped move the parade back to Winnipeg’s Portage Avenue, which is a big win!

CWB National Leasing is a proud sponsor of Pride Winnipeg. We encourage our staff to volunteer, and we’ve provided financial support for the festival since 2017.

Barry’s been busy with all the logistics that come with planning a massive festival, but he says “all the work is well worth it to see the future generations knowing they can be who they are each and every day in Canada.”

If you drive by our Winnipeg office, you’ll see the rainbow flag flying outside. Sponsoring this ever-growing festival is nothing short of an honour.

We base our sponsorship and donation decisions on our three Pillars of Giving:

Innovation

Investing in the growth of tomorrow’s leaders

Engaging our employees

The relationship with Pride Winnipeg originally started with employee engagement in mind when we supported Barry’s efforts through the Take A Stand and Volunteer program, but there’s no doubt we’re also investing in tomorrow’s leaders—like Barry and Micaela—by supporting this celebration.

As Pride Winnipeg expands, the festival is focused on sustainability. The site at The Forks will now have water bottle refill stations and less paper programs. Those looking for programming information—There’s tonnes of incredible entertainment this weekend—can have it at their fingertips by downloading the new Pride Winnipeg App!