After more than three-quarters of a century serving Chatham-Kent, the local United Way is undergoing a significant transformation.
United Way Chatham-Kent has announced that it will be merging with United Way/Centraide Windsor-Essex County to form one regional organization, effective July 1. The new organization will be called United Way/Centraide Windsor-Essex Chatham-Kent and will be led by Lorraine Goddard, the current CEO of the Windsor-Essex chapter.
“We think this is a fabulous opportunity for both of our communities. It will strengthen the capacity of the United Way to have greater impact in our communities, support more people, and create efficiencies as well,” said Goddard. “Problems are more complex, so we really need the talent and the resources to be able to really solve the problems in our community.”
Goddard emphasized that all donations made in Chatham-Kent will stay in Chatham-Kent to improve the lives of those living in the community.
“We’ll be tracking the donations separately,” she said. “Our United Way has worked really hard over the last couple of years to develop a donation-tracking sales force database, which gives us the capacity to be able to do this effectively.”
The United Way/Centraide Windsor-Essex County Board of Directors is currently made up of 22 members and will be opening four of those positions for members who will represent Chatham-Kent. All United Way staff will retain their jobs in both communities with no layoffs expected as a result of the merger.
United Way Chatham-Kent underwent a turbulent few months near the end of last year, starting with the abrupt resignation of former United Way CK CEO Barb Palace in September 2023.
A month later, the United Way of Chatham-Kent announced that it had launched a civil lawsuit against a former employee over the misappropriation of nearly $300,000. A 48-year-old Tilbury woman was later criminally charged with fraud over $5,000.
United Way CK Interim CEO Maureen Geddes said the decision to merge the local United Way branch with another was not made as a result of either incident. However, she said it may have “hastened” the process.
“We were on the path to regionalize before then,” said Geddes. “[The misappropriation of funds] was just a catalyst to just get that done.”
The newly merged United Way will maintain office space in Windsor at 300 Giles Blvd., in Chatham at 425 McNaughton Ave. W. and in Tilbury at 26 Queen St. N.
United Way Centraide Windsor-Essex Chatham-Kent will be launching its first fundraising campaign in CK later this year. More information about upcoming community investments is expected to be released over the next couple of months.
“We want to come back full force to reconnect with workplaces and donors and rebuild the United Way brand,” said Goddard. “Obviously, the more dollars we have the more work we can do in the community.”
The new regional United Way also plans to conduct public consultations in the coming months to determine the best ways it can support each community and to possibly come up with a new name for the organization.