Salvation Army kicks off annual Christmas toy, food distribution

“During Christmas, this will help 25 children from the most vulnerable families have food, toys, warm winter coats, clothing, hats and gloves through our Toy Shop distribution”.

The Red Kettle Campaign is at 52 percent of the $150,000 goal and only two weeks remain in the collection season.

Spare change typically helps the Salvation Army tend to the less fortunate, but someone dropped in something worth a lot more than a couple coins.

“In the last 48 hours the toys have flown in from everywhere, people dropping them off, families dropping them off”, said Bob Poff, Operations Program Director of the Salvation Army of Lee County.

With 10 days left to ring the bell, The Salvation Army is making progress toward its goal of $550,000 for the red kettle season.

“Thanks to our #secretsanta for this handsome anonymous donation!” the Salvation Army posted on Facebook. Kettles will continue until the afternoon of Christmas Eve.

“One of the misconceptions is that the bell ringers are out there raising money for Christmas, but they’re actually raising money for our overall budget”, Salvation Army commanding officer Major Ed Binnix said.

“The potential reality is some of our programs may have to be lessened”, she said. “They all looked around; they’d never seen one before so we had to share it around and let everybody look at it”, Svenson said. Many people don’t know they can donate online 24/7.

Unseasonably warm weather has taken its toll on the Red Kettle donations. Regionally, the Divisional office in Cincinnati reports that kettle contributions are lagging last year’s donations by 18%.

Busalacchi has been getting help from the Salvation Army since she was a teen, and says the impact the organization has on the community, not just at Christmas time, is tremendous.

If the organization doesn’t get the funds it needs to raise, it may have to cut back on it’s year-round programs.