A couple of big changes to the United Way campaign this year.

First, there’s a name change and the organization is now known as United Way Northeast Ontario.

They’ve also moved to the 200 block of McIntyre Street West.

Regional Navigator Erika Lougheed says despite the new name all the money raised in the community from their events stays in the community.

“The main thing to get out of this is that the money raised in the North Bay district stays in the North Bay district so our local promise is our number 1 priority.”

She says there’s a big divide between the rich and poor .

“And people are really struggling to get by. The main thing that we’re focusing on is to not just give people bandaid approaches but real concrete issues so they can get to the real root causes of poverty.”

Unlike other years there is no fundraising goal.

The United Way Northeast Ontario covers an area of 300,000 square Kilometres in size.