Salvation Army makes final holiday push for Red Kettle Campaign
VCSO deputies ringing the bell for the Salvation Army
Salvation Army makes final holiday push for Red Kettle Campaign By 14 News Staff and Jessica Costello | December 19, 2020 at 12:18 AM CST - Updated December 19 at 7:06 PM
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) - Less than a week is left on the Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign.
The money collected stays local and helps people in the area during Christmas and throughout the year.
14 News caught up with Salvation Army Major Mark Turner on Friday evening. He says they are still short by several thousand dollars, but if someone plans to donate in the near future, their contributions will go twice as far.
Special to the Daily
With less than one week to go, the biggest fundraising season for The Salvation Army Vail is in trouble. The nonprofit raises a significant portion of its annual funding during its Red Kettle Campaign, running from mid-November through Christmas Eve.
This year, the impact of COVID-19 has put The Vail Valley Salvation Army about $30,000 behind on its fundraising goal of $52,000.
The organization is serving significantly more people in 2020 with Christmas assistance, including putting food on tables, paying bills, providing rental assistance and utilities and helping place gifts under the tree. At the same time, due to the closing of retail stores, consumers carrying less cash and coins, and the decline in foot traffic, The Salvation Army is seeing a significant decrease in funds raised locally through the red kettles, which could limit its capability to provide services for the most vulnerable.
MOREHEAD CITY â Stephanie Santana was struggling to afford Christmas gifts for her children.
That all changed Wednesday thanks to The Salvation Army, which provided toys and other items to families in need of a helping hand this holiday season.
âThis is a very important help, especially now that COVID has hurt families,â Ms. Santana said. âWe didnât have money for rent and the Salvation Army has helped us. Christmas was going to be very hard but now my kids will have gifts.â
She and her children were among 40 families picking up items at a drive-thru line at the Golden Corral on Arendell Street, where The Salvation Army set up a makeshift toy distribution warehouse. Among the families, about 100 children will be receiving the gifts.
Donations to Salvation Army of Kent County will be matched Dec. 22-24
and last updated 2020-12-18 23:00:08-05
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. â Donations to the Salvation Army of Kent County will be matched next week up to $130,000, a news release said Friday.
The matching challenge gift is being provided by community leaders, private donors and members of the Salvation Armyâs Grand Rapids Advisory Board.
Donations of any amount that are given to a physical or virtual red kettle, as well as those gifted online, over the phone or in the mail will be equaled dollar for dollar during the three-day stretch.
“About half of that would go to the cost of putting on the program,” Hutchinson explained. “The other half would be something we could use for We Care programs. Unfortunately this year’s cancellation means we lost somewhere in the neighborhood of $12,000.”
Hutchinson does not foresee any reduction in We Care’s transportation service to rural areas or its Meals and Wheels delivery program. However, the lack of funds due to the pandemic could mean that at least part of a cash reserve intended to be applied to new vehicle purchases will instead be used to offset operating costs.
“We don’t have any vehicles that have less than 100,000 miles on them,” Hutchinson added. “Most of our vehicles will run until they have 300 to 350,000 miles on them, which is quite a bit. We lost one of our vehicles (last month) because of the transmission. It had 360,000 miles and it wasn’t worth putting in a new transmission.”