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By Erika Rolling
Community

Salvation Army donation goal at $650,000 for 2023 Christmas season

Dec 15, 2023 | 12:00 PM

Next week is the last week for the Grande Prairie Salvation Army Community & Family Services Christmas Kettle campaign.

Captain of the Salvation Army in the city, Peter Kim says it’s been a struggle for volunteers this year to man the kettles.

“If someone did a two-hour shift and they brought in $100 of donations during that time, they’ve already fed a family.”

“They might not think of it as them donating, but if they donate their time it can still help families that way.”

Captain Kim says the donation goal this year has risen to $650,000. This is due to inflation and more members of the community accessing their food bank and soup kitchen.

“We are actually serving one in five right now… that’s about twenty per cent of our population and every year for the past three years we’ve had over 2,000 new households coming to the food bank.”

“Our community kitchen went from 23,000-30,000 meals a year, to 89,000 last year… and we are already past that this year at 90,000.”

He notes lots of people are struggling to stay afloat this year and even if one can donate their time, it makes a difference.

“It’s a great way of starting a new family tradition with kids, and just going out and telling friends. It’s very simple and lots of fun and brings in the Christmas spirit.”

People wanting to make food donations can do so by dropping them off directly at the Salvation Army Food Bank or in multiple grocery stores across Grande Prairie. Donations can also be made online, or by tapping your card at a kettle.

“It’s so simple, and it’s a new way of being able to give without feeling like oh I don’t have any change or cash on me.”

Kim says mailers tend to do really well for collecting donations, especially if one is wanting a tax receipt for the end of the year.

In the first week of December, Kim said they were about par with the donations received in 2022.

If you are looking to volunteer to be a bell-ringer for the last week of the 2023 Christmas Kettle campaign in Grande Prairie you can contact the Salvation Army by calling 780-296-3946.

by Erika Rolling