Bill Glasgow, business manager of the Prince George Salvation Army – photos 250News

Prince George, B.C. – Roughly $13,000 down, and another $37,000 to go.

That’s about how far off the Prince George Salvation Army’s Tree of Lights campaign is from it’s goal of raising $50,000 this holiday season.

But despite the challenge ahead, business manager Bill Glasgow, who spent his Saturday collecting donations at the Outdoor Ice Oval, remains optimistic.

“We’re a little off pace, we’re close to $13,000 which is a little off the mark but we’ve got 12 days left and we usually see a lot of last minute donations come in and we hope to get close to last year which was just over $30,000.”

He says he’s optimistic because Prince George residents are so generous, and notes the city has even chipped in.

“Actually what the city has done is they’ve been very generous in that any admissions that come in (on Saturday ), goes toward the campaign.”

As for their kettle campaign, Glasgow says they’re still on pace to reach their goal of raising $250,000.

“We’re still holding pace, about $133,000 (as of Friday) and it gets stronger near the end.”

Glasgow says all proceeds from both the Tree of Lights and Kettle campaigns will stay local.

“Right to the needy people of Prince George and all the programs we try to put on to keep the Prince George people happy.”