This year our 2020 United Way campaign was held from September 28 - October 2.  While we had to make some tweaks to our normal schedule of events due to COVID, this year our fundraising efforts felt more important than ever.

From January to August of 2020, United Way’s 211 resource hotline received 108,869 calls, of those calls, 61,720 were COVID-19 related. From the onset of the pandemic in March to present, the 211 hotline has seen a 101% increase in calls asking for rental assistance, a 29% increase in calls asking to be connected to a homeless shelter, a 157% increase in calls asking about the food pantry system and a 136% increase in calls asking for assistance to purchase food/groceries. In addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, United Way received 3,851 calls that were disaster related due to the Midwest derecho in August of this year.

Every year Baker Group makes a pledge to improve the lives of everyone who calls our community “home” through the efforts of our United Way campaign. COVID-19 has affected many of neighbors’ jobs and income so beyond our usual fundraising efforts we also held a food/toiletry drive for the Bidwell-Riverside food pantry this year.

Our 2020 United Way campaign donations exceeded our expectations. Thank you to all our vendors that donated to our Raffle Baskets and all Baker Group employees who contributed to our fundraising goal.