The United Way of Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo is officially starting their 2019 Community Campaign.

The organization launched the annual fundraiser over the weekend – setting this year’s goal at $5 million.

Campaign Chair Ken Sandmoen tells Mix News there’s a lot of buzz surrounding this year’s campaign.

“There’s a lot of excitement in the community, people seem to really want to get back to donating and giving, so we have a lot of confidence that the $5 million is the right number this year.”

Last year’s goal was also set at $5 million, however, they were only able to raise around $4.6 million.

This has been a common trend in previous campaigns as the last four fundraisers have fallen short of their goal.

“We got a lot of support from our industry partners again which is outstanding and we have a lot of small businesses and individuals in this community that are already asking what they can do to help, so I believe we have seen the bottom and we’re going to turn the corner this year,” added Sandmoen.

The funds will be used to help cover their member agencies. This includes Girls Inc of Northern Alberta, the Centre of Hope, the Local HERO Foundation, and the Salvation Army.

Sandmoen says he believes the $5 million is enough to help support the needs of all the organizations.

“The organizations have done amazing work over the last couple of years of adjusting to the new reality that we’re in and if we can raise that $5 million we’re confident that we can provide all the services, programming to the agencies that they’re looking for.”

The campaign will run until mid-November. Donations can be made in person to the United Way or through their website.