Salvation Army Kettle Campaign (Photo provided by Alice Wannan)
The Salvation Army in Owen Sound is launching its annual Kettle Campaign this holiday season.
Salvation Army Community and Family Services Coordinator Alice Wannan says the campaign is the largest fundraising opportunity for the year, with a set goal of $75,000.
Wannan says the kettles were first put out for the season last weekend and will be out in full force this coming weekend.
“Saturday was our first day and we missed last year, we did have our kettles out but we didn’t have people standing beside them due to Covid. This year we are safely taking those precautions and people were very generous over the weekend, we certainly know our need to is going to be greater this year,” says Wannan.
Wannan adds this campaign could possibly be their largest, as they held their first sign up last Thursday and now over 300 households have registered for Christmas help. She says there are four more registration days left, and they are seeing many new families they have never seen using the Salvation Army resources before reach out to them.
When families come in to register, they will be signed up to receive a gift card to local grocery stores, and children will also be registered so the partnering fire department knows who to pack toys for, before Christmas morning.
“This year again we are doing gift certificates for families, so it allows them to go to their grocery store and purchase the items they want to purchase for Christmas day dinner. It became very cumbersome for us to have 700 turkeys safely stored in a freezer, you need a big freezer for that, so we switched over to that gift certificate model,” says Wannan.
Wannan confirms the food bank still remains open over the month of December to assist with basic food items, and donations are always being accepted.
Wannan explains each gift card differs from family to family as they take into consideration how many people per family need a card, as they can range from just one person, to 11.
Anyone looking to make a donation can find kettles at No Frills, LCBO, Walmart and Zehrs, as donations can be made physically or electronically with card tap machines available.
Families who want to sign up for Christmas help can find more details on the Salvation Army of Owen Sound website.
