Salvation Army thanks Merry Christmas Fund donors
Goal: $50,000
Given today: $ 1,425.00
Given to date: $43,937.00 CHESTER » The final round of donations to the 2020 Merry Christmas Fund have arrived at the Salvation Army Chester Corps. The Delaware County Daily Times’ annual drive to benefit the charitable organization closed the year at
$43,937. A $550 gift from William J. Pastuszek Real Estate of Willingford led the final six contributors. They are:
· Susan and Jeffrey MacArthur of Aston, $200: “God bless us everyone! Thanks to our healthcare workers! – Sue and Jeff MacArthur.
· William J. Pastuszek Real Estate LLC of Swarthmore, $550: “In memory of my loving sister Lydia M. Pastuszek.
Thomas and Teresa Smedile of Wallingford, $200: “Tis the season to share! – Terri & Tom Smedile” · Anonymous, $200.
· Patricia Empfield of Glen Mills,
$100.
· Patrick Janney of Ridley Park,
$100.
· William Murray of Parkside, $25: “In memory of Mr. and Mrs. Francis Burke and Mr. and Mrs. William Murray. God bless The Salvation Army!”
· Anonymous, $50: “Thank you for helping the less fortunate.”
“I am blown away by how generous people were in a year where everything was up in the air and so much was going on for people personally and financially,” said Major Kathleen Calvo of the Chester Corps. Calvo and her husband Joaquin, a fellow major, arrived in August to take over for retiring Majors Ervin and Anna McKoy.
Save for a similar though smaller scale effort in Newark, N.J., the Merry Christmas Fund was a unique fundraiser for the Calvo’s, who came with
29 years of Salvation Army officer experience throughout the East Coast, Ohio and Costa Rica.
“This is the first place I’ve been where they do the little messages and some of them brought tears to my eyes. I’d be crying and someone would say, ‘Are you all right?’ ‘Yes, it’s just the beautiful messages,’” she said. “(Newark) was something similar to this … but they could not give their personal messages … and it was not as high a goal. Chester had the higher goal and we almost met it this year.”
The fund closed at 88% of its
$50,000 goal, its best showing since
2012’s $48,242 total. The 2012 total was the closest the fund has reached since 2009’s $58,845, the last time it met or exceeded its goal. This year was the second of double-digit growth, as 2020’s 40% growth lapped
2019’s 60% growth when it reached
$31,321.85.
Remaining funds from after the Chester Corps’ food basket and toy purchases for area families on the week of Christmas will help stretch its operating budget for the coming year. COVID-19 restrictions have particularly impacted its shelter operations.
“Usually people can go out to different community programs but a lot of them have shut down due to all the restrictions. They have stayed in (the shelter) most of the time, so of course that added more cost to the program. The fund will help offset those costs,” Calvo said. “We don’t know what 2021 will hold for us, but we’re hoping that we can start back up a lot of the other programs that we had,” including programming for seniors and the corps’ youth music and recreation programs.