Centerville Families in Need

This fundraiser was closed on January 11, 2023. Thank you one and all for your support.

Hi, I'm Deborah; I sit on the Board of the Centerville Civic Association. We are an all volunteer organization that is probably best known for the community events we organize throughout the year. The best known is perhaps the Christmas Stroll which this year is on Sunday, December 11 from 3-6pm.

At all our events, but especially at the Christmas Stroll, we put out red buckets to collect donations.

You see, in addition to planning and hosting the events, we also run a program called "Families in Need." This program provides gift cards for families that have been identified through the elementary school for groceries and presents to enable them to host a Christmas celebration.

The Centerville Civic Association receives no local or state funding. All of our events and the Families in Need Program are funded by private donations. We are grateful for the generosity of some local businesses, but the majority of our funding comes from private individuals.

The red buckets used to raise a great deal of money, thousands of dollars. However, since the pandemic, most people are less inclined to carry cash.

In 2020, when the Stroll was just a drive through "visit" with Santa, we tried our first on-line red bucket campaign. It was wonderfully successful raising $1,955. Last year, when we were able to host a modified all outdoor Stroll we just brought back the physical buckets. That is when it became clear that people's habits had changed and we needed to adapt. Donations were down significantly, and we heard again and again, "oh, I am sorry, I just don't really carry money anymore."

The red buckets were successful because so many people dropped in donations that were just a couple of bucks. Since we moved online, it may seem that you need to make a bigger donation. Nope. Oh course, if you have the means or would like to make a larger donation, awesome, but that is not our push. (By the way, this is a limited campaign that will end December 31, 2022.)

So, just "drop in" your donation and help us to keep up the support of Families in Need.

Thanks so much and don't forget to join us on December 11 along Main Street.