United Way of Bruce Grey (Photo by Nathan Shubert)
The United Way of Bruce Grey saw a strong fundraising turnout over the holiday season.
Executive Director Francesca Dobbyn says, “People making donations right to the holidays, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, which is a joy for people to pause in their celebrations with family and friends and to make a contribution to support the community.”
She says the monetary donations which will go to support their various programs.
“We are 100 per cent fundraised, we don’t get any transfer payments, we are not government funded in any way, shape or form. Everything that we fundraise goes to support all the various programs that we run at the United Way,” says Dobbyn.
Despite a good year for fundraising, Dobbyn says they will still be challenged in the new year.
“The level of need in our community is quite significant, we had double the number of applicants to our utility program from the previous years, so that has really put a dent in all of that great fundraising,” says Dobbyn. “We are just not sure what is going to happen next year with that, if we are going to have to cut programs in order to keep people’s electricity on and keep the furnace going because that need is outstripping all of the donations that have come in.”
She says it was a joy, however, to see people come out and donate to organizations across the region.