United Way surpasses 2023 campaign goal

The United Way of Sarnia-Lambton has surpassed its 2023 campaign goal. In an announcement Wednesday, campaign chair Vicky Ducharme said the campaign had officially reached $1,420,000.  "We received a couple […]

The United Way of Sarnia-Lambton has surpassed its 2023 campaign goal.

In an announcement Wednesday, campaign chair Vicky Ducharme said the campaign had officially reached $1,420,000. 

"We received a couple of key donations, including two who wish to remain anonymous," Ducharme said in a news release, “and we wanted to report to the community as soon as possible that the goal had been reached.”

While the official 2023 campaign goal was set at $1.4 million, the actual needs in the community are closer to $1.6 million, she added.

“We are so pleased to have reached the goal; that was a significant accomplishment for our community, and we are so grateful to every donor.

"Overall, we anticipate once all the donations are received through the mail, and everybody planning to give online do so by December 31 — we might end the campaign near 104%," she added.

Currently, 18 agencies are funded by the United Way of Sarnia-Lambton, which provides 30 local programs and services.

Funding is used for three focus areas, the largest being poverty-related and homeless services, followed by youth programming and building healthy people and strong communities — typically, seniors programming and mental health.

"I have lived in this community almost all of my adult life and I am always so impressed and so proud of the Sarnia-Lambton community,” Ducharme said. “I can't express my thank you enough to everybody who supported the United Way in so many ways to help us reach a successful completion.”

The 2023 fundraising campaign will officially end December 31, 2023.

For more information, visit www.theunitedway.on.ca.