By 1808Delaware
In the flurry of activity at the end of 2020, as CARES Act monies related to COVID-19 flowed from Washington D.C. and Columbus, the City of Delaware entered into collaborative efforts to make a difference for residents and businesses.
At its regular meeting on Monday evening, Delaware City Council had the opportunity to garner an update on how those monies were spent. Present for that purpose was Tim Wilson, Executive Director of the Delaware County Convention and Visitors Bureau/Destination Delaware, and Brandon Feller, President of United Way of Delaware County.
Wilson shared that in October, in the heart of the shutdowns, he had meetings with City officials, including Assistant City Manager Kyle Kridler, to discuss possible business advocacy marketing for Delaware retail businesses.
As a result of those conversations and with the backing of City Council, $25,000 was transferred to the Bureau. The result was the 2020 Delaware City CARES Campaign, which run
The goals, Wilson said, were to highlight the city as a destination and to promote the businesses as safe place to shop.
The following numbers were shared as indicative of the reach of that marketing effort during the holiday season:
- 48,203 minutes of video watched
- A potential audience of 2.45 million social media users
- 82,000 link clicks
- 53,000 social media engagements
- $1,200 given away in gift cards
- 104,000 users reached through the use of six “influencers”/bloggers.
This even included a “TikTok” video, which can be viewed here:
@siryacht Thanks to my college hometown Delaware, OH for the best tour!! What city am I going to next? ##ohio ##ohiocheck ##midwest ##fyp
Feller talked about what United Way did with CARES funding provided by Council. He emphasized that the organization wanted to spread the funding to multiple programs based on increased demands.
Among many other examples cited by Feller:
In the area of rent and utilities assistance, Pathways to Hope used over $30,000 to help 26 families and 86 individuals; the Salvation Army used $10,000 for utility assistance help for 24 families.
Organizations in the Delaware County Hunger Alliance provided over 45,000 meals and 600 holiday boxes.
The demand and need continues, Feller said. In response to a question from Councilwoman Lisa Keller, he shared that all agencies involved had record numbers of those they assisted. These were not not only those with long-term reliance on social services, but many were new families.
