The United Way of Perth-Huron soared past its fundraising goal.
The 2020-21 campaign raised over $1.9 million, which is a record and was well above the $1.762 million goal that was set.
The tally was announced in the Spirit of Community online video celebration Wednesday night.
United Way officials say the tally demonstrated the power of local support in the face of unprecedented challenges.
Co-chair Martin Ritsma says the incredible level of generosity and caring stands out through the several months of fundraising.
Executive Director of the Perth Huron United Way, Ryan Erb, says this year's campaign total was well beyond their expectations.
“We far surpassed our campaign goal this year, which is just incredible news for everyone. We have raised more than one million .92 dollars and that's up 18 per cent, year over year. It's an incredible, incredible year, especially in a pandemic.”
Erb says one thing they've noticed through the pandemic is a number of social issues in the area were exacerbated by the challenges that COVID-19 has brought.
“What we've seen through the pandemic is a number of things exacerbated, the social problems we had before are worse, mental health seems to be on the rise and so we see some social problems, we see some of them have gotten worse and I think the community saw that too, the pandemic put a lot of that into the forefront.”
Erb says the increase in donations means they'll be able to help a lot more people in the community who are still struggling and a significant part of it will be used to keep their Individual Urgent Need Fund going.
“So that started at the beginning of the pandemic and we wanted to make sure that everyone in our community who might be falling through the cracks, wasn't getting government support for their needs or wasn't meeting their needs, would have the opportunity to get the, literally, cash, to purchase groceries or medication or whatever they needed.”
The complete list of volunteers, sponsors and donors and the UWPH’s Spirit of Community videos can be found at perthhuron.unitedway.ca.
-With files from Bob Montgomery
