Swift Current Salvation Army Christmas campaign under way
The bells are ringing at the Salvation Army’s Christmas kettles in Swift Current to raise funds in support of various programs.
The start of the Salvation Army’s annual Christmas campaign in Swift Current took place with the wish tree and kettle launch in the Swift Current Mall, Nov. 18.
It is the organization’s largest annual fundraiser for community services offered throughout the year, including community and family services such as the food bank, community meal and back-to-school backpack program, the Thrift Store, a restorative justice program offering mediation and alternative measures, as well as the Christmas food and toy hamper programs.
Lieut. Bill and Renee Mailman are the corps officers at the Salvation Army in Swift Current. They expressed their appreciation towards the community for the support shown each year during the Christmas campaign.
“Each year we’re amazed at the continued generosity and support of this community,” Bill said. “We appreciate your support for all that we do throughout the year, but especially during this holiday season. We could not do what we do without you. We say that all the
time, but it is absolutely true. We cannot do what we do here without the support of this generous community.”
The goal is to raise around $235,000 during this year’s Christmas campaign, split between a target of $65,000 for the kettle campaign and the remainder through other donations and a mail-out campaign that makes an appeal to individuals to support the Salvation Army.
“Basically, we count anything that
comes in during December towards Christmas,” he said. “So between people dropping donations off, our mail-out campaign and our Christmas kettle campaign all combines for our total.”
The goal for the 2023 Christmas campaign is similar to the actual amount collected during last year’s fundraising effort.
“We look at our previous years to see how we’ve done and choose the goal
from there,” he explained.
He believes this year’s goal is achievable, but it remains to be seen if inflationary pressures and a tightening economic situation will have any impact on the campaign.
“We’ll see what happens, but I’ve just known that in tough times a lot of people who can give, seem to give more,” he said.
“So we’re just thankful for all the people who do give. We also acknowledge that some people can’t, because of the situations they find themselves in.”
He noted that the Salvation Army in Swift Current has actually seen a fourfold increase in a need for their services within the last three to four years.
“This year, we’ve come across several people who have accessed our services who say ‘I’ve never done this before, I’m usually the one to help give,’” he mentioned. “We also encourage them to please come, because that’s what we’re here for.”
According to Lieut. Renee Mailman the situation at the food bank changes from day to day. There was a successful Halloween food drive by youth and young adults from several churches, but there is a constant need for support.
“We’re seeing between 15 and 18 appointments a day, four days a week,” she said. “So that’s over 60 appointments a week. It’s so great when we have food drives like that, but it does go quickly.”
The food bank will remain open until Dec. 20 for regular appointments to support anyone requiring food assistance. It will then close over the Christmas period and resume operations on Jan. 3.
The registration for Christmas hampers concluded on Nov. 16 and she was pleased with how the process went.
“We’ve changed from online and we went back to the in-person, which was an incredible thing to witness,” she said. “To see our volunteers interacting with people and hearing their stories was just an absolutely beautiful thing. One of the reasons we wanted it to go back to in-person was to have that human connection. The online really was for COVID and not something that we had intended to stick with in the long-term.”
They received applications for over 330 Christmas hampers. Each hamper will include a Christmas Eve pack with popcorn and snack food as well as a grocery store gift card.
“So people can purchase what they want to eat for their holiday meal,” she said. “We will also still have different food items available at the food bank that they can choose from to help supplement that gift card, if they want to take it.”
The Salvation Army received around 375 registered requests for Christmas gifts for children. Tags with wishes from children are located on the wish three in the Swift Current Mall near the entrance to the Safeway store.
The deadline to take tags from the wish tree and buy gifts for children is Dec. 4. All purchased toys can be dropped off at the food bank, located at #780, 1st Avenue NW. The pickup period for all Christmas food and toy hampers will be Dec. 12-15.
There is a significant change in the way toys will be allocated to children this year. A Christmas toy store will be created at the food bank, where parents or guardians can come to choose what they want to give to their child.
“Some children are really specific about what they want and some children are really general,” she noted. “This way parents will get a choice. They can walk in and say this is exactly what my child is looking for or they can browse for the child who’s not quite sure. So it’s giving parents and guardians the dignity of choosing their own gifts for their children.”
This approach is similar to the toy mountain concept used by the Salvation Army in other communities. The COVID19
pandemic delayed the implementation of this idea in Swift Current.
“We had the opportunity to experience toy mountain in Winnipeg before we came to Swift Current,” Renee said. “It was really wonderful to witness as parents were able to choose the toys that they wanted for their children. Of course, once COVID hit here, that wasn’t something that we were able to accommodate. So it’s been something that we’ve wanted to do for a number of years and finally we think that this is the year we’ll be able to accomplish it.”
Christmas kettles are situated at five locations around Swift Current. One kettle is located with the wish tree in the Swift Current Mall. The other kettles are at Canadian Tire, Pharmasave, Walmart and the Wheatland Mall.
Donations at these kettles can be made by cash, cheque or through the convenient
tiptap payment options in different denominations ($5, $10 and $20). The kettle campaign will continue until Dec. 23. Volunteers are needed for kettle shifts and anyone who want to register for a shift can call or text 306-741-4763.