Prince George, B.C.- Today, the Salvation Army will start delivering the Christmas hampers to the 220 families on the Salvation Army’s Adopt a Family list.

A further 330 or so hampers will be delivered to other families throughout Prince George. “Interestingly enough, that number is down by about 100 from last year” says Salvation Army Envoy Bruce Kirk “But we do expect to hear from some more families before  Christmas.”

The Kettle campaign appears to be on target to reaching its goal of $175,000 this year says Kirk, but he says the world economic meltdown is having an impact. “We have seen the number of daily bread and produce hampers hit a new record as we gave out 200 hampers a week ago Monday. We have seen the number of hampers needed increase by about 30% in one month!” Kirk says there is also an increase in the number of appointments of people hoping to be added to the food hamper list.

“If this kind of growth continues, we are growing very concerned about the amount of assistance we can offer in the year ahead.” According to Kirk, since the September economic crunch, people seem to be assessing their needs versus their “greeds” and they are being extra careful on where they spend their money. 

Last year, the Salvation Army collected $200,000 through the Kettle Campaign.