The Lloydminster Salvation Army appreciates the effort and support from residents as their Christmas Kettle campaign fell short of its goal this year.
Major Bond Jennings says they were able to collect about $51,000 for the campaign and were aiming to bring in about $65,000. He adds they had to limit the collection hours as well as locations for the kettles due to pandemic guidelines.
“We certainly appreciate the people of Lloydminster in their financial support of the kettle campaign. We basically had two full-time kettles out and another location where it was nine days and four hours there compared to the six locations last year where we had four full-time locations.”
In 2019, the Salvation Army was able to raise approximately $83,000 through the campaign. Outside of the campaign, Jennings says the organization passed out in between 450 and 500 hampers during the Christmas season which represented nearly 1,500 individual people needing aid.
“I want to give a word of thanks and appreciation to the community for their support this past Christmas and over the past year. We know it is a very generous community and we know they will be there to support us in the days ahead.”
Looking towards the new year, Jennings hopes they will be able to bring back programs interrupted by the pandemic and the public health guidelines. He says face-to-face interactions are an important part in getting support to people in need.
“When you are able to sit down with people and talk to them you can find out more about what their greatest needs are and help them with other resources than just passing out food. Sometimes it’s more than food people are looking for, but that’s the avenue they come to us for. Doing an interview over the phone, you may not get the true picture of what people are looking for. We’re hoping things will change in regards to how we meet with people and help them with their needs.”
He adds they will continue providing the same services they ran in 2020 and will be doing some strategic planning and communicating with partners on how to better serve the community.