Photo: Abby Zieverink / EverythingGP, staff

By Abby Zieverink

Kettle Campaign

Local Salvation Army receives $12,000 donation towards Kettle Campaign

Dec 10, 2021 | 1:42 PM

The Grande Prairie Salvation Army’s Kettle Campaign is $12,000 closer to its fundraising goal of $575,000, thanks to two generous donations.

On Friday, December 10, the not-for-profit received a cheque for $10,000 from the Frank Flaman Foundation, along with a $2,000 donation from Keddie’s Tack and Western Wear/Keddie’s Trailers.

Captain Peter Kim with the Salvation Army says he is grateful for the local businesses who step up in helping support the annual campaign.

“We only campaign for five weeks of the year for the entire year worth of programming and services for the community,” he added.

“We service almost one in ten (people) in Grande Prairie for food, hampers, and hot meals, so it’s a very necessary and important campaign for us so we can provide the quality of service we want to give to those in need.”

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Of the individuals who used the food bank in 2020, Kim tells EverythingGP, 44 per cent were under the age of 18.

“Which is a staggering number, and 1,355 new families accessed the food bank in 2020, new families we have never seen before,” he explained.

With that, Kim says the need for food is increasing. He adds 2021 is shaping up to have even more of an increase for those in need.

He adds they are anticipating over 1,000 applications for Christmas Hampers this season.

“Without the community at large and also the big businesses that have this passion for community and making sure their community is well taken care of it’s that generosity that I feel is really vital for us to be a community.”

“The Salvation Army distributes the food, but without the support of the community or corporations like Keddie’s and the Flaman Group, it’s harder to do that, and its really generous for them to give such large amounts, which makes all the difference for the operations of the salvation army.”

John Loogman sales rep in northern Alberta for Frank Flaman Sales says after donating to the Salvation Army’s Kettle Campaign last year, they felt it was important to do it again this year.

“We’ve done some throughout the province too, in the bigger centres so we are trying to keep supporting the area where we do our work.”

Jeff Keddie says they have supported the Salvation Army for years and felt that it was the perfect time to write the cheque when the Frank Flaman Foundation was doing the same.

“The community has been good to us, we are in our 50th year of business, and without the community support, we would not be here. So we believe in giving back and this is just part of it, whether we think its good times or bad, people struggle all the time, and we think the food bank is a natural fit for that.”

The Salvation Army is still looking for volunteers to help out at the kettles located at various areas in the city. Kettle shifts run from Monday to Saturday 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. / 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. as well as 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.