Prince George, B.C.- “The generosity of this community is never in question” says Bill Glasgow, the Business Manager for the Salvation Army in Prince George.

The Salvation Army  Christmas campaign numbers are in,  and  while still short of the goals,  the numbers are much closer than they were last  year.

Glasgow says the Kettle Campaign  raised  nearly $224 thousand dollars.  That’s about  $26 thousand dollars short of the $250 thousand dollar goal, however,  Glasgow says it is an improvement over last year.  “Last year, we raised  $191 thousand dollars through the Kettle campaign, so this year we  raised more money and we had fewer kettles in the community  so they could be properly manned.”

There  were 12 kettles distributed in the community for this year’s campaign, and Glasgow says  the number of people stepping forward to volunteer  to man those kettles was  well  above  the number who had volunteered in 2013.

The Tree of Lights Campaign  numbers are still being tallied as the dollars collected  by Integris Union have yet to be  added, but  it looks like that campaign raised  about  $30 thousand dollars.  Again, that is  short of the goal, but Glasgow says the combined campaigns  put the Salvation Army programs in a much better position this year than last.  “Last year  we were about $80 thousand dollars short, and this year we are about $50 thousand off the mark, so  we are in much better shape this year.”

250News had raised the question  with Glasgow earlier in the month about the challenges faced by kettle campaigns when  most shoppers are  using credit or debit cards. “We will explore how  we might be able to use  technology  for the next  year, but there are costs involved as  debit and credit companies do charge a percentage for each transaction, so maybe if we can find a company that would  donate the service  for the 6 week campaign we might be able to  use that.” He says they might consider  the possibility of a virtual  on line kettle as part of their review of advancing technology and in his words “enter the 21st century”.

The  food bank  received a great deal of support as well.  Glasgow  says he believes the food donations this year could  set a record.   A wrap up meeting to discuss  the results of the campaigns and  start examining plans for  next year, will  be held sometime next week.