It's not so much about raising money as it is awareness.
That's the attitude the United Way of Chatham-Kent is going into their Red Scarf Campaign with, on Monday.
"It's a partnership with a group that they came to us. It's not going to be a huge fundraiser, but that's not the point," says director of resource development, Tom Slager. "It's one of those things, even though it happens during campaign time, that I actually believe the emphasis is really on the awareness and the learning and helping people in the community."
Red scarves handmade by volunteers at St. Andrew's United Church in Chatham will be on sale at the Downtown Chatham Centre, starting at 11am.
You can choose to keep the scarf, or donate it back to the United Way, which will then give it to someone in need to help keep them a little warmer this winter.
At $10 a piece, proceeds will benefit the United Way's campaign goal, which Slager says they're about $900,000 away from reaching.
So far, just over a million dollars has been raised.
"The first half comes in and you're pretty sure of it, and then as you get closer and longer into the fundraising, it's the second half that's even more of a challenge," he says. "So we still need the community support, and we would hope that they would see what we're doing and understand and be a part of it."
The campaign wraps up in mid-January.
