United Way HPE over $1 million mark!

United Way Hastings & Prince Edward has breached the $1 million mark of the 2021 Revive & Thrive fundraising campaign with 8 weeks to go to reach the $1,950,000 goal.

“In November we hosted a very successful virtual auction sponsored by Maple Dale Cheese raising approx. $30,000 and GIVINGTUESDAY was a remarkable success with a $10,000 match from McDougall Insurance & Financial which leveraged over $35,000 in additional giving “ said Brandi Hodge, executive director. “Pair those events with the generosity of our donors and sponsors and it’s easy to see how incredible our community is.”

Inspector Sheri Meeks of the Belleville Police Service, and United Way’s Volunteer Campaign Chair remarked “We don’t take a single dollar for granted—every little bit of money raised in this community will help local families and individuals receive the supports that will help them revive and thrive.”  Meeks noted “The pandemic has amplified the needs locally, a lot of people in our community are struggling in one way or another, so it’s truly been inspiring to see how much people care about each other.”

On Friday the organization closed its annual application process for local agencies to apply for funding. “Requests for funding are more than $400,000 above what we were able to allocate last year,” says Hodge. “The need is high, maybe higher than ever before and we’ll do our absolute best to meet as much of it as we can. ”

It’s still too early to accurately predict the end result of the campaign but current projections show that it will be close.  Many workplaces who run internal United Way campaigns typically report in December. “Once workplaces start to report we’ll be able to see the trend in workplace giving—so far we are tracking well – quite on par with last year,” says Brandi Hodge, “but we’re starting to anticipate that we may need a final push to get over the finish line.”

This fundraising campaign will continue until January 31, 2021.  Community members wishing to donate can do so by contacting the UWHPE office at 613.962.9531 or unitedwayhpe.ca/donate/  Hodge adds, “If someone in the community gave last year, we hope they’ll consider giving again. For new donors, any gift of $500 or more is eligible to be matched by the Maurice and Marilyn Rollins Foundation—significantly increasing the positive impact on the community.“