United Way falls short of goal, future uncertain

United Way of Elgin-St. Thomas board member Serge Lavoie addressed a crowd of about 50 at the Canada Southern Railway Station in St. Thomas on Thursday afternoon, March 5 after President James Todd announced that the 2014 fundraising campaign had collected $437,497, well short of the $600,000 goal. After several years of falling short of fundraising targets, members of the local United Way board are contemplating the agency’s future and have launched a 60-day “Reimagine Campaign” that aims to raise another $100,000 and generate 100 pledges of 20 hours of volunteer work (total 2,000 hours). The local United Way has also entered into talks with the United Way of London-Middlesex to investigate “economies of scale in our local operations.” Those facilitated discussions could lead to a future merger of the two United Way branches if the Elgin-St. Thomas agency isn’t successful with its Reimagine Campaign. A town hall meeting will be held at the St. Thomas Public Library on Wednesday, March 25 to get comments from the public on how the United Way can best attract donations. The results of the Reimagine Campaign will be announced on Monday, May 4, 4 p.m., at the CASO Station.