It was a quieter start to the 2020 Sarnia-Lambton United Way campaign.
The annual fundraising effort kicked off without the usual Day of Caring.
Executive Director Dave Brown said the pandemic has forced the cancellation of several events including the Sarnia Sting Black and White Game and the Locally Lambton Dinner.
"Within a lot of the employee campaigns, they're just not able to have the raffles that they used to have, barbecues and chilli days they used to have so we are trying to be as creative as we can to raise funds for those events, but also focus on the employee payroll deduction," said Brown.
He said they've had to adjust to new ways of raising money to reach this year's $1.9 million target.
"We're looking at doing a lot of grab-and-go breakfasts and lunches, were working with the Dante Club to try to do something later this fall, and possible online 50/50 opportunities," said Brown. "The biggest change though this year is probably in many cases there's an absence of paper pledge cards and instead they're online digital pledge cards. We're hoping that that takes off well."
Brown said so far $360,000 has been raised, or 19 per cent of the goal.
The United Way of Sarnia-Lambton funds 18 agencies providing 36 community programs and services.
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