The Sarnia-Lambton United Way has reached a pivotal point in the annual fundraising campaign.
Director of Development and Communications Ryan Doyle said in six weeks the campaign has achieved half of its goal.
"We're excited, we've officially reached the 50 per cent mark," said Doyle. "So we've raised to date $750,000 of our $1.5 million campaign."
Doyle said although they've reached this milestone, they're concerned about making their target.
"So we knew going into this year that the way that we've done some of our campaign recording in the past that this year was going to be a catch up year. So, we already knew that we were going to be hurting a little bit in terms of our finances, and now we're getting double hit because we're seeing some early campaign numbers coming in that are lower than we thought were going to come in," said Doyle.
The fundraising effort runs until the end of the year, and Doyle said with nine weeks left to go, the campaign is trailing behind last year's pace.
"We're trending behind about five per cent compared to last year. Last year, we had already crossed the $800,000 threshold at this time, so we had well past the 50 per cent mark at this time last year," he said.
A total of 16 local agencies receive funding from the United Way including the Inn of the Good Shepherd, Lambton Elderly Outreach and BGC Sarnia-Lambton.
Doyle said there's still time for workplaces and businesses to launch their own fundraising campaigns to help out with the annual initiative.
"We're really quick on the turnaround, so if there's any workplaces that want to run just an event or an employee campaign, we can help you get set up just reach out."
To find out more, or to donate visit the United Way's website.
