Salvation Army Falls Short of Campaign Goal
Friday, December 30, 2011 @ 4:00 AM
Prince George, B.C.- The Salvation Army in Prince George exceeded it’s goal for its Tree of Lights campaign, but preliminary figures show a shortage on the goal for the Kettle campaign.
Captain Neil Wilkinson says the Tree of Lights campaign raised $42 thousand dollars, that’s $2 thousand more than the target. The Kettle Campaign raised $208 thousand. While a significant amount, the Kettle donations were $40 thousand dollars short of the goal.
Captain Wilkinson says the shortage will mean the Salvation Army will have to do a little bit of belt tightening, and will have to hold a campaign in mid year to raise the extra dollars. “I will not reduce programs nor will I see people go hungry” says Cpt. Wilkinson “ We will make sure people are looked after, I will not let them go without the basic necessities.”
This year, the Salvation Army helped just under 700 families in Prince George with 193 assisted through the Adopt-a-Family program, and 500 more receiving Christmas hampers. That overall number is in line with the number of families that received assistance last year. “It is good to see there wasn’t a spike in demand” says Cpt. Wilkinson who says the Food bank had noticed an increase in use in the days leading up to Christmas, and increase they had expected as struggling families juggle what funds they have to get through the holidays.
For now, Cpt. Wilkinson says he wants to send out a huge thank you to all who assisted the Salvation Army in the campaign this year.
Comments
Not that this was the sole reason, but I saw many volunteers this year just sitting quietly by the kettles, not ringing their bells, many with frowns on their faces just passing the time. People just walked by and barely noticed.
I worked a kettle two nights in a row this year. The one thing I noticed is how many people go well out of their way to not make eye contact or say anything. I understand that nobody can afford to donate to every kettle they see, but it would sure be nice to have people at least say hi, give a nod, something.
208 thousand dollars divided by 1200 clients equals about 174 dollars per client. This does not add up. There’s no way they give out 174 dollars worth of stuff to each of those people. Maybe 20 or 30 bucks worth would be more accurate. So how come what they got donated was not enough? I bet if they got a million dollars donated they would still get on these news boards and complain they need more. Just like any other corporations they are just simply greedy and no amount will satisfy their greed. Must be taking lessons from the lie berals. Oh well I just walked past them at superstore and did make eye contact. I gave them a dirty look and said nothing.
Sadly, there are many like mattyc that walk the streets of our fine city. Stay classy!
Maybe donations are down because the Salvation Army is a religious organization with religious based bigotry and not everyone agrees with them. From their webpage:
* Abortion â It is opposed to abortion as a means of birth control, family planning, sex selection or for any reason of mere convenience to avoid the responsibility for conception
If you are pro choice, giving money to the Salvation Army is supporting people who disagree with you and would overrule you if they could. People quickly forget pro choice is not pro abortion.
* Alcohol and Drugs â â¦it nevertheless believes total abstinence to be the only certain guarantee against overindulgence.
See also: Temperance movement and prohibition.
* Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide â The Salvation Army believes that euthanasia and assisted suicide undermine human dignity and are morally wrong regardless of age or disability.
Interfering in god’s will with science is okay if it keeps someone alive, but it’s not okay for science to allow nature to take its course or let someone give up. Makes perfect sense!
* Homosexuality â Homosexual conduct, like heterosexual conduct, requires individual responsibility and must be guided by the light of scriptural teachingâ¦.The Salvation Army believes, therefore, that Christians whose sexual orientation is primarily or exclusively same-sex are called upon to embrace celibacy as a way of life.
Inclusive, yet exclusive! I like it!
* Marriage â Marriage is the only proper context for sexual intimacy.
Only an evil Sith would deal in absolutes.
* Pornography â The Salvation Army opposes pornography in all of its forms.
I’ll drink to what. No, wait.
As a result of being a religious organization, things like this happen:
http://www.edmontonsun.com/news/canada/2010/12/08/16478011.html
“CALGARY – The Salvation Army says it refuses to distribute Harry Potter and Twilight toys collected for needy children because they’re incompatible with the charity’s Christian beliefs.”
I would like to think people are giving less to the Salvation Army for these reasons, but in reality people probably can’t afford to.
The local Salvation Army carries the Wilkinson family’s paid wages x 4!! Father, mother, son and daughter all draw paid wages out of the Salvation Army funds.
I used to drop money in the kettle, but Im tired of paying wages.
Salvation Army should be volunteer only.
The local grocery stores supply most of the food to the food bank, and yet our Salvation Army can only provide 2 lunches and one supper a week!!! Food hampers are filled from local grocery store donations, and adopt a family is done by local residents adopting a family. If 40K isnt good enough for the Wilkinsons, then they should volunteer their time and not draw 4 wages.
Right on pgsnoop.
That is the main reason I will NOT donate to them. Not only the 4 you mentioned but also the captain, lives in a mansion and all the other big shots ALL are on the payroll. It’s not that I am a uncaring person. I would gladly donate if the money were used for the people that come in and ask for food. But the reality is that more then half of what they get soes straight to these people and in my opinion they are greedy parisites. They make MORE then I do and still they want more and more and more and more and more and more and more. I WILL NOT give them one cent.
Sad, the excuses we make for our own greed.
pgsnoop
Thanks for this eye opener, I was not aware of it. So sad to hear these facts.
I did not know that the Salvation Army just gives 2 lunches and 1 supper per week.
They get donations, money and run 2 thrift stores.
42 thousand from the trees and 208 thousand from kettle campaign is together 250 thousand – so devided by 50 weeks roughly $ 5000 per week plus food donations. I think with this money per week there is more possible than just 2 lunches and 1 supper.
My questions is – maybe bad management?
How is St. Vincent doing it? They have 1 store and so far as I heard, they feed the people 3 times a day,I am not sure how many days a week and they have no kettle campaign and no Tree of Lights campaign.
There are people (anonymously) suggesting Cpt. Wilkinson work for free, yet nobody is putting their name forward. Hmmm…
The biggest change to the kettles is that not many people carry cash anymore due to debit and credit cards.. everyone wants the points and in return have no cash to put into the kettles.
President of the United Way receives a $375000 base salary,UNICEF – CEO, receives $1,200,000 per year, CEO of the American Red Cross…for her salary for the year ending in 2009 was $651,957 plus expenses
average between 15-20% actually is handed back out to the people in need.
The Salvation Army’s Commissioner Todd Bassett receives a salary of only $13,000 per year (plus housing) for managing this $2 Billion dollar organization. Which means about $0.93 per dollar earned, is readily available and goes back out to local charity causes…truly amazing.
Interesting numbers dont ya think..
The Salvation Army does a great social service to the community, where would all the people who need help go for help? Any reasonable thinking person would understand that it takes money to maintain facilities and support staff. St. Vincent is no different. I think the main reason why the kettles were down this year is because most people do not carry cash on them as they did in years past. I was able to give when I had some cash, but most of the time I don’t carry cash. A lot of people turn away because they feel embarrassed that they can’t give account they don’t have any cash as well. The kettles I saw didn’t have debit or charge card options.
mattyc………maybe you should post your real name because most people would really like to know who would give dirty looks to someone volunteering for the Salvation Army and then act proud of it.
If you had actually read the article it does not state that the kettle campaign was used for Christmas hampers. It is used to run the programs year round.
The Salvation Army helps everyone regardless of their religious beliefs. It was just in the paper how they assisted the residents after the Victoria Towers fire. They deserve our support.
If you have decided against the Salvation Army but give to another charity that is your choice. In my experience of volunteering and fundraising I find that paople that beak off like Matty and have all of their excuses laid out against a certain charity, those people don’t give to ANY charity. They use this holier than thou attitude to cover up for being a cheapskate.
Thank you to ALL of the voluunteers that have worked so hard in 2011!
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