Crowds flooded into Budweiser Gardens to show their support for the United Way of Elgin and Middlesex as they officially kicked off their 2019 fundraising campaign.
A sell-out crowd attended the annual 3M Harvest Lunch on Wednesday.
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Chair for Untied Way of Elgin and Middlesex, Christy Bacik said this year they tried to expand into the broader community by adding a second lunch at CASO station in St Thomas.
She added this year’s campaign is all about the theme #unignorable.
“I don’t think we can turn a blind eye to what’s happening in our community anymore,” said Bacik.
According to numbers from the United Way, the child poverty rate in the region is the third highest in the country, with 1 in 5 kids living in poverty.
“This year now more than ever back to the unignorable issues, homelessness, child poverty barriers to education are becoming a much larger city and along with that their comes some larger social problems.”
Lunch was $10 and all of the funds raised will be going back into the community to support programs that help those struggling with poverty.
Over the last five years, United Way has invested $40-million in programs and services across the region of Elgin and Middlesex.
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This year the funds raised will go to support 92 local programs and 54 partner agencies that target the communities most pressing needs like food, housing, transportation, and recreation close to home.
Attendees were treated to a deli-inspired lunch with fruit, chips and ice cream.
Officials say more events like the Scotiabank stair climb are coming up this fall.
“I think you will see a big turnout for stair climb which is November 7th at One London Place, and we have an awesome theme this year, Rock the Climb,” said Bacik.
She said this year they don’t want to focus on the numbers so much as the issue at hand by focusing on the #unignorable and showing people where the money is going.
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