United Way of Northwest Conn. launches campaign

TORRINGTON — While the coronavirus has changed how many nonprofits are raising funds, at least one charity is not letting COVID -19 slow it down.

“The United Way of Northwest Connecticut is staying the course and plans again this year to raise at least $500,000 to help fund our Community Partners during its annual campaign,” said executive director Owen Quinn in a statement. “Our community needs every penny, and we believe in the generosity of our community, pandemic aside.”

The annual campaign has traditionally kicked off with a Celebrity Waiters breakfast at the Torrington County Club, but social distancing protocols have precluded social gatherings like the breakfast. Instead, the United Way is kicking off the campaign by asking donors to safely run their early bird campaigns, asking people to donate, “and again set an example to the community of starting and concluding their work place campaign by the first week of October,” according to the statement.

“This has been a difficult year for so many in our community, but we’re entering this campaign with renewed hope and great enthusiasm”, said Jeff Geddes, United Way board chairman and Senior Vice President of Torrington Savings Bank, in a statement. “In times of hardship, our community rises to the occasion and emerges stronger.”

According to Quinn and Geddes, the United Way Board of Directors is confident it can run a 2020 campaign, despite the added difficulties COVID-19 has posed.

United Way board chairman Brendan McDonald said, “The fact that there are a number of nonprofits that have been financially affected by the pandemic is an even better reason to donate to the larger campaign this year”.

“Nonprofits have suffered significant funding losses; they have been working nonstop since the pandemic started; none of the nonprofits have been able to take any time off,” McDonald said. “So, the support now through the end of the year’s 2020 campaign, which helps fund them year long, is more important now than ever”.

“Normally, the United Way would hold different events, in which residents can donate to the campaign. However, COVID -19 put a stop to that. It’s going to be a month-to-month campaign, given the pandemic circumstances we find ourselves in; so we’re just going to kind of see how it goes,” Quinn said. “Our plans for a virtual safe campaign are evolving, because we are not sure what kind of campaign that will ultimately look like. But we are hoping to maybe still have a few inperson events, just smaller and more intimate. This presents an opportunity to come up with new ways to do fundraising for the United Way campaign.”

An early theme for this year’s campaign is “Stronger Together, which from the idea that it will take everyone to get through the pandemic to the other side, and that type of cooperation of will be necessary to make this year’s campaign a success, Quinn said.

“No one alone can make this happen,” Quinn said. “And so we are going to have to be calling on the resources of the past but looking for new people and new ideas as we transition into a different future than we anticipated prior to the pandemic.”

The fundraising campaign has been extended to Dec. 31. “The good news in today’s 2020 campaign, as in past campaigns, is the fact that every penny counts, and all the money stays right here in Northwest Connecticut,” Quinn said.

For information on supporting the annual campaign, contact Owen Quinn at 860-489-4131 or owen@northwestunitedway.org. Or visit northwestunitedway.org

United Way of Northwest Connecticut / Contributed photo Above, members of the United Way of Northwest Connecticut hosted a Celebrity Waiter breakfast fundraiser in 2018 in Torrington. The breakfast can’t be held this year, but the United Way is launching its annual fundraising campaign, collecting donations into October.