The Heart of Illinois United Way kicked-off its annual fundraising campaign. Hundreds of people turned out for the breakfast at the Peoria Civic Center. The event comes as United Way's partner agencies lost more than 12-million-dollars in state and federal cuts since 2011. Vicki Stewart and her husband Doug are this year's co-chairs for the fundraising effort. Stewart says the area businesses and community groups raised more than $1 million-dollars for the pre-campaign:
“When we called on them, they all said this is what we’re going to do because we can raise more. And we have this tradition in this community where people really do care and they do want to make sure that everyone enjoys a better quality of life here in the Peoria area,” Stewart says.
Stewart says $10.5 million dollars was raised during last year’s campaign. Friday is also the United Way's Day of caring. People can deliver non-perishable foods until 4 at the Civic Center parking lot on the corner of Kumpf and Jefferson. Food is also accepted at the Schnucks grocery store in Peoria. The Day of Caring raised more than 180-thousand pounds of food in the last four years.