It’s not just businesses that have had to “pivot” to make ends meet during the pandemic.
The Port Elgin District Volunteer Action Committee, also known as Pedvac, has been making changes to help adjust to new realities that prevent it from taking on its traditional fundraising activities.
Pedvac executive director Katie Tower tells us about their new venture on Tantramar Report:
Pedvac has launched a new progressive online 50/50 draw. When someone buys a $2 ticket, they lay claim to a number for one year, whether or not they continue to buy tickets. If no winning ticket is drawn in a given week, the pot rolls over to the next, and continues to grow until there is a winner. The first draw takes place on March 30.
“COVID has forced organizations like ours to kind of think outside the box when it comes to fundraising this year,” says Tower. “This is the second year that we won’t be holding the Lupin Quilt Fair which was a big fundraiser for us. And of course, the dream vacation raffle was was a big one for us as well.”
Because tickets for the dream vacation raffle were sold door to door, the organization decided they couldn’t run it this year. “And we also don’t want to torture people with a dream vacation during a time when travel is limited,” says Tower.
Pedvac has also been experimenting with online auctions as a new method of fundraising.
“We just completed our third online auction, and so that’s been a new thing for us,” says Tower. “Those have been pretty successful, but we’re still trying to fill in the gap, and requiring new ways to to look at our fundraising.”
Pedvac runs a myriad of community programs with their funding, says Tower. “We have our Community Food Bank. We support a hot lunch program at Port Elgin Regional School, where basically every day students can go get a hot lunch at the cafeteria.” Pedvac also runs an annual Christmas box campaign for families and seniors in the area. They run a social enterprise called Wool to Wishes that supports employment in the local region. “And we also have youth literacy programs and mental health wellness programs,” says Tower.
To buy tickets for the new 50/50 fundraiser, click here. For those without online purchasing access, Tower says Pedvac has you covered. “You can also come into our office and we can get you set up here to purchase tickets,” she says.
