Some stability has arrived after years of decline for the United Way of Sarnia-Lambton.
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The charity that provides local agencies funding for community programs was $17,000 shy of its $1,487-million fundraising campaign goal Tuesday, hours before the deadline, said associate director Dave Brown.
Hopes are to still hit the target after lagging donations are counted in the coming days, he said.
“We’re not waving the victory flag yet,” he said.
But the amount raised so far is on par with the $1.47 million the agency raised in 2023he said, when the United Way turned a corner and exceeded its $1.4-million goal, after years of backsliding.
Targets had fallen every year since 2018, when a record $2 million campaign fell short.
Things may be stabilizing now after the tumult wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, said Brown, recognizing that inflation in recent years has also made it more difficult to give.
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“We haven’t used the words ‘new normal’ in a couple of years, but I think that kind of comes to mind at this point,” he said.
A last-minute rally in this campaign, after donations lagged partway through, in part because of the Canada Post strike, is also a testament to the generosity of the Sarnia-Lambton community, he said.
“It looked like we were going to be maybe 95, 96 per cent, but this community came together again for us,” Brown said, noting donations started to tick up again a little more than a week before Christmas, after falling off in mid -November.
More than a quarter of all charitable donations in Canada tends to come in the last month of the year, he noted.
Given the stability year over year, there likely won’t be major changes to which programs get funding in 2025, he said.
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“Now that we’re so close to the goal.”
There are 29 programs via 17 agencies currently receiving money from the United Way, officials have said.
New allocations are announced in mid January and take effect April 1, Brown said.
“We like to let the agencies know as soon as we can … once the final dollars are in,” he said. “The process is almost done.”
Some agencies have applied for more, because of increased costs and demand, he said, noting increasing need in the community is why 2024’s campaign target was boosted about one per cent.
Brown, a long-time executive director with the United Way, is retiring in the spring.
“This is my last campaign,” he said, noting he’s helping Pamela Bodkin, who took over as executive director in July, transition into the role.
“I’ve always been amazed at the Sarnia-Lambton community for what they do,” he said.
“For not only the United Way, but charitable organizations across the city and the county.”
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