There’s even more reason to donate this holiday season to the Salvation Army Christmas Kettle campaign. Major Lori Mitchell tells us they saw a cut in their funding from the District Social Services Board in four of their main community and family service programs. Mitchell explains they are short around $50,000 which for them is a big chunk of money, “we are feeling a little bit of extra pressure, there is another funding stream we can apply for but we won’t know if we are successful with that for a quite while. We really like to know before we move into the year that we have enough funding to offer the programs that we do.” Community and Family Service programs include a language cafe, food bank, a community kitchen, a breakfast program in a local school and the emergency disaster/soup van. Officials explain the DSSAB funding was decreased after the provincial government cut funding to social service boards.
Thursday marked the kick-off to the annual Christmas Kettle Campaign. This year’s goal is the same as last year’s coming in at just over $220,000. Credit card payment options will be available again this year but only at the Superstore location throughout the campaign and at the Arthur St. LCBO starting December 1st. You can use debit, Visa and Mastercard at those locations.
You can also hop online and donation through the ONLINE KETTLE. Kettles will also be staffed by volunteers at the Intercity Shopping Centre, Grandview mall, all three Walmarts, and the LCBO’s at Arthur Street, Dawson Road and the Thunder Centre.
