Late donations save kettle campaign
Salvation Army fundraiser a success in Glace Bay, New Waterford
Fred Courtney recalls that in 1956 he went door-to-door seeking donations for the Salvation Army.
Six decades later, the 81-year-old Glace Bay man is a sergeant major with the international Christian organization and has been involved with its annual Christmas Kettle Campaign for the past 30 years.
Courtney said early concerns that the month-long fundraising exercise would not meet its goal of $70,000 were alleviated over the last week before Christmas,
“I think it went very well and I think we reached our goal – we don’t have a final number yet, but it went very well at the end and if we didn’t reach our goal we were very close to it,” said Courtney.
“I believe the money is out there for the Salvation Army because the people recognize the work that it has done over the years and they continue to willingly contribute.”
The grassroots fundraising followed a similar trend in nearby New Waterford, where Salvation Army volunteers staffed kettles in the community’s Sobeys store, Nova Scotia Liquor Commission outlet and Pharmasave. Local kettle co-ordinator Lynn Meery said this year’s campaign didn’t fare well early and as of midDecember had raised less than $10,000 of its $25,000 goal.
“But this last week was good – people really stepped up the past couple of weeks and it looks like we raised about $23,000,” said Meery, who explained that the money raised by the 53 volunteers during the kettle campaign is used to help people in New Waterford and surrounding communities, including River Ryan, Scotchtown, Lingan and New Victoria.
In fact, the kettle campaign is the Salvation Army’s only annual fundraiser. It has been synonymous with the holiday season since 1891, when a Salvation Army captain held the first kettle fundraising drive so the organization could provide Christmas dinners to more than 1,000 people living in poverty in San Francisco.
In 2016-17, the Salvation Army assisted more than 1.3 million people in 400 communities across Canada. It served 3.3 million meals and provided 6,700 shelter, addictions, detox and mental health beds for vulnerable Canadians.
The Salvation Army’s target for this year’s Canada-wide campaign was $21 million.