Donations miss the mark for United Way

The United Way achievement breakfast Wednesday celebrated donors and volunteers at the Urban Hall in Belleville. Photo by Katie Perry, QNet News

By Katie Perry

BELLEVILLE – The United Way of Quinte has fallen short of its $1.9 million donation goal for 2017.

The campaign raised $1,864,761, executive director Kathy Murphy announced Wednesday morning.

“Certainly $100,000 is a lot to make up,” Murphy said. “We feel that some of our savings in our budget this year will go towards that.”

The United Way hosted an achievement breakfast Wednesday morning at the Urban Hall in Belleville to announce total donations for 2017.

“We’re trying to work with the agencies that have received additional funding in their budgets from other sources to see how we can move some money around so that nobody gets left behind,” Murphy said.

The United Way depends on monetary and time donations from the community to offer services for vulnerable people in the community, she noted.

“We’re hoping that the community will realize that if we don’t meet that goal, it does mean that some of the programs and services will unfortunately be cancelled or left out.”

Fundraising is changing because the younger generation wants to have more information about where the money is going, and to help come up with a solution to the social problems that the United Way addresses, Murphy said.

“They want more information on how their donation is making a difference. We are working on different strategies so that we can engage better with different demographics.”