Hurricane Matthew made an impact on Bryan County in more ways than one.

Some are just now being felt.

Storm damage and recovery efforts moved the Richmond Hill-Bryan County Chamber of Commerce to cancel the 2016 Great Ogeechee Seafood Festival, which would have been in its 18th year.

A highly-anticipated annual event for thousands around the region, the seafood festival is a revenue source for many, from businesses to civic clubs.

Instead of just counting their losses, local non-profit organizations and civic groups went to the drawing board to come up with creative ways to make up the difference.

"It’s funny how a situation like Hurricane Matthew makes us think outside the box," said Barry Hall, past Richmond Hill Exchange Club president.

Crab stew and shrimp jambalaya have been the club’s menu staple they dish out by the bowl. People missed their fix for the first time since 1998.

"As a matter of fact, the Exchange Club was one of the first founding organizations of the Seafood Festival," Hall said.

In comparison, the Pregnancy Center of Richmond Hill is a relatively new festival participant, having only two years under its belt.

Director Monica Easter said the 2015 festival brought in enough funding to cover several months worth of operational costs.

"It was definitely a hit for us because of the fact that we are so small right now," Easter said of the 2016 cancellation. "We’re kind of working extra to try to gain funds."

Easter said her organization hoped to have a lot more funding by now. But she is starting a fundraising campaign that includes expanding the group’s annual event to include live music, a new feature planners hope will attract more support.

"We normally do our annual Girls Night Out, but we’re really pushing that this year because that’s going to help make up the funds from Hurricane Matthew," Easter said of the May event.

For Hall and the Exchange Club, that out-the-box thinking got them to launch a Vidalia sweet onion sale. The Exchange Club partnered with G&R Farms in Tattnall County to sell 5-pound bags of sweet onions from now until April 29.

The onions are available by pre-order and a one-day sale on April 29.

"The whole idea came about because we were concerned that we would not have enough to fund all these activities at prior year levels that we have in the past," Hall said. "We’re running very, very close. I will say that. We are running very close on money this year."

In addition to the Seafood Festival, the club also sells advertisements in school calendars. The calendars fall in line with the holidays and major events in Bryan County Schools

"We actually print the calendars, take them to the Board of Education, and they send them home with the kids," Hall said.

The calendar ad sales are in its third year.

"For years and years and years, it was just the Seafood Festival. Then, all the sudden, somebody got this idea about the calendar," Hall said.

He said the Seafood Festival and the calendars are the club’s major fundraisers. It uses the collections to support Student of the Month/Year, Public Safety Officer of the Year, Child Abuse Prevention, the YMCA and the annual fishing derby.

"If we don’t have enough money, then these go lacking," Hall said. "If we have a good response to the onion sale, we should be able to breeze right along here and fund all of these."

Fundraising is also critical to the Pregnancy Center of Richmond Hill, according to Easter, especially with recent goals to relocate, add mobile service, and expand to offer medical care, like ultrasounds.

"I feel like we’re important to the community for the fact that we try to offer women and men education on unplanned pregnancies," Easter said. "We’re a faith-based organization, but we totally feel like everybody should be educated before they make a decision."

"It all goes right back into the community," Hall said of the Exchange Club. "Our higher priority is our kids and anything we can do to showcase the talent of our young people here."