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After being worried it was going to fall short for 2019, the Christmas Bureau of Edmonton announced on Twitter Thursday morning it had reached its fundraising goal of $1.3 million.

On Dec. 26, the charity told Global News that it was $165,000 short of its 2019 goal, but that it hoped to catch up by the end of the month.

READ MORE: Christmas Bureau of Edmonton reports fundraising shortfall for the year

It took a little longer, as the organization said the goal was met on Tuesday after all the donation boxes were picked up from fire halls in Edmonton.

“We could not be more excited,” marketing and communications manager Katherine Stavropoulos said on Thursday.

Have you heard the news? This week, We Reached Our Goal of $1.3M! We could not be more excited- and never could have done it without YOU! Thank you for making it possible to bring JOY to the table for thousands of Edmontonians and their families! We cannot thank you enough!!⁠ pic.twitter.com/Un3NjE6r2f — Christmas Bureau (@ChristmasBureau) January 9, 2020

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The Christmas Bureau of Edmonton connects those in need with over 85 organizations in Edmonton, including 630 CHED Santas Anonymous.

Stavropoulos said the organization was trying to remain positive near the end of 2019 and said the staff had a hunch Edmontonians would step up and meet the goal.

“The bottom line is we know how unbelievably generous Edmonton is and even though everyone is suffering in the current economic climate, we knew that everyone would do what they could.”

READ MORE: Saturday sees successful delivery day for 630 CHED Santas Anonymous

The numbers for how many people were assisted in 2019 are still coming in, but initial estimates say over 12,625 families were helped, which is an increase over 2018. The organization sent out about 6,500 grocery gift cards in 2019 and delivered 1,500 physical hampers to families in need.

In 2018, 39,137 people received the organization’s holiday meal. Of those, almost 15,000 were children under the age of 12 and about 4,700 were teens between the ages of 13 and 17.

Stavropoulos said the organization was expecting the higher numbers and estimated the 2019 numbers were going to be about 10 per cent higher than 2018.

“Based on the initial numbers, it does not look like it’s going to be that much of an increase, however, based on experience, it’s probably next year where things are going to get even tighter than they were this year,” she said.

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Due to the fact that the demands on the charity are expected to be even higher in 2020, Stavropoulos said they are expecting to be in the same situation at the end of 2020 that they were at the end of 2019.

“We’re up for the challenge and we’re looking forward to working hard all year round and getting as many donations as we can and reaching our goal again for next year,” she said.

If the fundraising shortfall hadn’t been made up, Stavropoulos said about 9,000 children wouldn’t have been able to receive assistance.

The fundraising goal for 2020 will be known in the next couple of months, but Stavropoulos expects it to be around the $1.3 million mark again. This year marks the 80th anniversary for the Christmas Bureau of Edmonton.

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