United Way of Central Alberta kicked off its annual fundraising campaign with a Drive-In event held in the parking lot near GoodLife Fitness at Parkland Mall on Thursday. (rdnewsNOW / Sheldon Spackman)

By Sheldon Spackman

Campaign Kickoff

United Way kicks off annual fundraising campaign at the drive-in

Sep 10, 2020 | 5:42 PM

Officials with United Way of Central Alberta are hoping to drive up support for this year’s annual fundraising campaign with the launch of their campaign kickoff by way of a Drive-In Theatre event held on Thursday.

The unique approach to this year’s campaign kickoff in place of the organization’s traditional luncheon each year was spawned from the COVID-19 pandemic and its physical distancing requirements.

The event held in the parking lot at Parkland Mall still aimed to engage the community by offering a virtual, fun and safety-conscious event.

United Way of Central Alberta CEO Brett Speight says the event was a sellout with about 105 vehicles in attendance and about a dozen more people or businesses livestreaming the occasion.

“Virtual works great but we wanted to try and bring people together as much as we could while still maintaining safety,” he explains. “When we came up with this idea, it was like, it’s a gamble. Will people support it? Will they come? We’re happy to see that they did.”

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The event premiered this year’s campaign fundraising video which demonstrated the need for United Way support to help the roughly 30 local agencies it serves.

Speight says the pandemic has had a major impact on the United Way and its partner agencies.

“We’ve been as busy as we’ve ever been, providing that support, providing that support funding, and relief funding to those agencies. Now it’s really about moving from relief to recovery. We need to make sure that these agencies are here in good times and in bad times.”

Speight points out that hunger, mental health and domestic violence have all increased over the course of the pandemic, noting $1.1 million invested in local agencies to maintain their programs and services during that time.

“Outside of the government, we are the largest investor in social services in central Alberta. We fund millions of dollars a year in support of many programs and agencies monetarily, but we also provide non-monetary support to help build their capacity. So by supporting your United Way campaign, your supporting a wide network of agencies across central Alberta.”

Samantha Shortneck, 29, of Red Deer is a program participant at Safe Harbour – just one of the many agencies that receive support from United Way.

After overcoming significant trauma throughout much of her younger years, Shortneck says Safe Harbour and the United Way have helped her regain control of her life and be a good example to her three children.

“Change is possible, there’s help, there’s support, there’s programs out there that can help you pull yourself out of there,” she implores. “Safe Harbour has helped save my life in a lot of ways because there were probably some nights where I could have frozen to death or I was in really unsafe situations. But going there, I felt safe.”

Shortneck says a key to her road to recovery was letting go of her past.

“I had a lot of resentment towards God or the Creator because of the things that I had to go through as a child,” she explains. “I had a lot of hurt and when I was in my addictions, I didn’t think that there was ever a way that I could ever let that go. But now I feel happy, I feel relieved and I feel free.”