The United Way of Sarnia-Lambton's 2025 fundraising campaign fell just shy of its $1.5 million target.
Despite strong community support, the initiative finished $42,682 away from reaching its goal.
Volunteer Campaign Chair Mike Edgar said it's obviously a little bit disappointing.
"But, at the end of the day, with the economic pressure and all of the other things in the background it's probably more of a positive feeling that we came as close as we did," said Edgar. "Times are very difficult for individuals and households in Sarnia-Lambton. Families don't have the funds that they generally do based on increases and there's a greater need in the community as well. You basically have a double effect that I think leads to that."
Edgar said United Way is thankful for all of the donations.
"When you look at it overall, it shows extremely strong support and resilience," said Edgar. "We have quality people in Sarnia-Lambton that helped us do as well as we did, considering the economic backdrop."
He said there's one thing that makes Sarnia quite unique.
"Obviously, the corporate component is a large piece of it, but we also have a lot of retirees and employees that still like to give to the program even once they retire and move past their corporate careers," said Edgar. "We're extremely grateful to have the great people that we do supporting us here in the area."
A total of 16 local agencies received funding from the United Way last year, including the Inn of the Good Shepherd, Lambton Elderly Outreach, and BGC Sarnia-Lambton.
The money helps with things like mental health, food insecurity, and getting those in need to appointments.
Edgar isn't sure whether cuts will have to be made to make up for the shortfall.
"We'll have to review all of the asks," he said. "That will be something happening over the next few weeks here with the volunteer board. We'll walk through, look at what the requests are and do our best to cover the programs that we generally support."
There's a slight chance the campaign could generate a bit more money.
Any donations received in the mail and postmarked for December 31, can still be accepted until January 9.
