Squeaked by

The people in Thunder Bay are amazing says the chair of United Way.

With less than two weeks to go in its annual campaign, the United Way was worried it wouldn’t meet its $2.47 million goal for the upcoming year. But chair Wayne Fletcher said the group just "squeaked" past that raising $2,478,657 largely due to individual donations.

"Obviously we set a goal that we thought was pretty ambitious as it was," Fletcher said Monday afternoon. "This is the most that’s ever been raised so far."

With employee campaigns winding down, the United Way needed help to reach its goal, which came in over $200,000 worth of individual donations, Fletcher said.

"The citizens of Thunder Bay really care about the community because compared to other cities across this nation we are amazing," he said. "There’s no other word to say that and they do a great job and ultimately it’s because we want our community to be better."

The United Way will celebrate a successful campaign Monday evening at the Victoria Inn and make the official announcement. Over 125 people are expected to attend with the tab being picked up by the hotel.

"We celebrate the fact that a tremendous job was done by thousands of volunteers," Fletcher said. "Together as a community we’ve done something that’s going to benefit everybody."