It’s a 30-hour campaign designed to raise money for nonprofits in central Pennsylvania.

COLUMBIA COUNTY, Pa. — All around Central Pennsylvania, more than 375 nonprofit organizations are getting ready for Raise the Region, which is a 30-hour giving campaign designed to raise important funds for area nonprofits. 

Since beginning in 2013, Raise the Region has been able to generate more than $21 million for local nonprofits in Central Pennsylvania. The Bloomsburg Children’s Museum is one of the nonprofits participating from Columbia County. It says the funding from this campaign helps them with some of their free community events they do every year.

“Without it, we’d have to cut some of the things that we do, and I’m sure that’s the way with many other nonprofits in the area. Even if you think about $25, “what does my $25 do?” If you give me $25, I’ll do an awful lot with it,” said Ginny Weibel, Bloomsburg Children’s Museum Director. 

Over at Cats in Bloom in Bloomsburg, volunteers say that Raise the Region comes at the perfect time for them, as kitten season is fast approaching. They say a lot of the funding they receive from this campaign goes toward the care of the cats and getting them ready for adoption. They say it also goes toward community engagement.

“It’s very important, we reach a lot of people, we have a lot of cats that need care throughout the year. It comes at a really good time, where we get a lot of kittens in. We get a lot of sick kittens, a lot of sick adult cats. It’s a big event for us,” said Hailee Fosse, Cats in Bloom Fundraising Coordinator. 

AGAPE in Bloomsburg is a nonprofit that helps many people in need. Karla Alexander, the executive director, says they have been participating in Raise the Region ever since it started. She says the campaign has grown over the years, and it’s AGAPE’s first big fundraising effort of the year. Alexander says it helps build up their budget so they can keep continuing to build their programs.

“One of the favorite ones this time of year is the kids backpack program, and we are completely running it again in our local schools as well as partnering out to Northumberland County schools, so these funds, because we didn’t write any grants specifically for that this year, will go towards that,” said Karla Alexander, Agape Executive Director. 

The First Community Foundation Partnership of Pennsylvania collaborates with the Blaise Alexander Family Dealerships for Raise the Region. The sponsors contribute prizes and special incentives to maximize the impact of donations.

“We actually have a program called Homeschool Hangout where we get upwards of 100-120 people. That is subsidized with money that we raise from things like Raise the Region,” said Weibel. 

Raise The Region ends at midnight on Thursday. To donate or find out more information, you can visit the campaign’s website by clicking here.