Salvation Army Christmas Drive Slow

By 250 News

Prince George, B.C.-  With just 22-days remaining in the Salvation Army's 2010 Christmas Kettle campaign, the need for donations is mounting...

Envoy Bruck Kirk says while last year's campaign brought in an astounding $252-thousand dollars, the charitable organization was more conservative this year in hoping to raise $235-thousand.  But he says, so far, the kettles have collected just under $55-thousand dollars.

Kirk says his organization sensed donations would be hard to come by.  "I think what was really key for us last year, is because people were so widely accepting that we were in a global economic downturn that they could see that their neighbours lost their job, that they knew there was something significant going on in the economy and certainly in the city of Prince George."

"This year, the perception widely is that, 'Well, we're not in a recession anymore, therefore the need could not be as great'", he says.  "However, what we are experiencing here at the Salvation Army is that our numbers are not changing at all, we still see the steady increase -- not a dramatic increase like we did in April of 2010 -- but we're still seeing a steady increase in our clientele."

The kettle campaign runs until 1pm on December 24th and still need volunteers.  "We have an empty kettle in just about every area of the city, so if somebody was able to volunteer two, three, four hours, we could really use their help right now."

Also considerably off-target this year is the Sally Ann's Adopt-a-Family program where a group of families, a business, or community organization anonymously sponsors a family in need for Christmas.  Kirk says the program has seen a steady drop over the past three years with 224 families adopted out in 2007, 208 in 2008, and 195 last year.  This year, only 140 families have been spoken for and the program closes tomorrow.  Kirk is hopeful members of the community will step up quickly to bolster those numbers.

For more information about volunteering at a kettle or the Adopt-a-Family program, you can call 250-564-4000. 

Meantime, the Salvation Army's tree atop the Coast Inn of the North should be standing by later today.  Freezing temperatures prevented it from going up during the Civic Centre's light up ceremony and wind has hampered efforts in the days since.  Kirk says donations to light a bulb on the tree have reached $14-hundred dollars.

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