United Way Central Plains held its first Shopping Night since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, and they're excited to take baby steps back to normalcy.

Executive director Randi Kehler says they had about half as many vendors there, which was perfect for this year with the restrictions COVID had put in place. Vendors were selling everything from sports goods to bath bombs, and even some sweets for sale. They also had a door auction for anyone who paid the five-dollar cover charge.

"The room had been renovated a little," explains Kehler. "So, we stayed within our capacity. Everything went really smoothly, and we only had fully vaccinated attend."

She adds, it was a very steady flow of people throughout the event, which took place at Canad-Inns here in Portage. She feels like the people who attended breathed a sigh of relief as they took one more step back to pre-COVID life.

"People were excited to be able to come back and join us, and the vendors were happy and we were so happy to be able to support our vendors in this," notes Kehler. "Overall, it was just a great night."

She mentions, in closing, that every dollar that was donated during the night will go to their nine-member agencies. They've been able to give them consistent funding and she’s excited to be able to continue providing that funding.