Salvation Army seeks food donations

The Salvation Army of Hot Springs is sending out an SOS to the community to help stock the shelves of its pantry with protein-rich foods to accommodate what it says is an ever-growing need to feed the hungry in the area.

According to Captain Bradley Hargis, The Salvation Army fed about 34,000 individuals last year, but has already surpassed that number by 5,000 as of Tuesday. With four months remaining in the calendar year, she said the organization is relying heavily on the community’s support.

“The people served include the ‘working poor’ who are struggling to escape poverty, lonely and destitution; senior citizens, and men, women, and children who have no place to turn for help. If we don’t immediately stock our shelves with groceries, we won’t be able to feed hungry people like these,” Hargis said in a news release.

Nonperishable, protein-rich food items like peanut butter, canned meats, beans, and other

Blankenship said the safety net CCMC has become for the roughly 150 people who request assistance from it on a monthly basis gives it the expertise to determine where the generosity of others can do the most good. Many of the people who rely on that help are one unexpected expense away from the brink, she said.

“That is something we do day in and day out, making those types of decisions,” she said of allocating resources to those in need. “Whether it’s help with paying rent or an electric bill, our goal is to put money into the hands of households and individuals that just need a little help bridging the gap.

“Arkansas is the fourth poorest state based on household income. Garland County’s income level is lower than the state average. If the slightest little thing happens, a kid gets sick, the car needs to be repaired, it throws off their entire budget because they’re living hand to mouth.”

More than a quarter of the support CCMC receives from an area church to assist with needs in the community helps pay city utility customer’s pastdue balances, Blankenship said. The H2o program should free up those funds for other assistance.

Donations can be mailed or brought to the city’s utilities office at the Bill Edwards Center, 517 Airport Road, Suite C. The tax-deductible donations can also be added to utility bill payments, the city said.

“There will be a box twothirds of the way down on the right side of utility bills,” Outler told the board last week. “If they check that box and write the payment for more than what the utility bill would require for their service then that would go into the H20 program.”

The city’s agreement with CCMC allows one assistance payment a year per household, with 75 percent of the balance required to restore service or prevent a service disruption being the maximum payment allowed.

The board began discussing the H20 program when it adopted a new rate structure in November that raised the minimum monthly charge for water service by $3 month for residential customers inside the city. Residential customers outside the corporate limits saw their minimum monthly charge increase by $4.50.

The minimum charge, which is assessed on the first 1,000 gallons of usage, will increase to $13 by 2021 for residential customers inside the city and $19.50 for customers outside the city by 2021.

The rate increase has been pledged to the repayment of a

$20 million bond issue the city authorized earlier this year for capital improvements to the regional water system. It will also secure another $90 million of debt the city plans on issuing in three installments in 2020,

2021 and 2022 to bring its 23 million-gallon average day allocation from Lake Ouachita online.

The city expects to build a

15.5 million-gallon a day treatment plant and related infrastructure by 2022.