With just a little over a week left to meet their goal, the Guelph Salvation Army’s Christmas kettle campaign is in desperate need of volunteers – and donations.
The annual Christmas kettle campaign kicked off on Nov. 16 and runs until Dec. 24, with 12 kettles stationed around Guelph in places like Zehrs Eramosa and Stone Road Mall.
So far, it’s raised a little over $36,000 – which is about $119,000 short of their $155,000 target.
There have been times over the years where donations are slow to come in, said Peter van Duinen, corps officer and pastor with the Guelph Salvation Army.
“But we’re certainly behind right now,” he said.
To compare, this time last year the campaign had raised $69,000.
But van Duinen said not all hope is lost, and “in previous years, the community has rallied.”
For example, between Dec. 12 to Dec. 24, the campaign last year saw a major boost in giving leading up to Christmas Eve, going from $69,000 to $145,000.
“Our hope is that the generosity will kick in and people will get out there,” he said. “At the same time, we really need a lot of volunteer bell ringers so that we can have as many opportunities for people to give as possible.”
While he didn’t have an exact number, he said they have fewer volunteers this year, meaning the kettles sometimes go unmanned.
Volunteers, called bell ringers, are stationed for two or four hour shifts at one of the 12 Christmas kettle locations around Guelph from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
When kettles aren’t accompanied by a bell ringer, people can still donate with debit or credit via the Tip Tap option – but can’t leave cash. That also means that every time a shift isn’t filled, someone has to come pick up (and later drop off) the bubble of donations, since it can’t be left unattended, adding to the volunteer strain.
“There's always a correlation, right? People are more inclined to give when they hear that little bell ringing. When there are no volunteers … people are more inclined to walk away,” he said.
The Christmas kettle campaign accounts for about 90 per cent of funding for their year-round programs, including a food bank, a clothing pantry, and emergency shelter programs, to name a few.
The Guelph Salvation Army serves an average of 15,000 households each year, accounting for 18,000 individuals.
If they don’t see a significant increase in donations, he said it will have a “significant impact on our ability to sustain that programming over the course of the year.”
The Salvation Army’s toy drive is in need of donations too, falling about 200 hampers short.
Van Duinen said they’ve seen an increase in the number of families that have applied for Christmas hampers this year, with up to 1,200 households and around 1,600 children and teens.
“That's a lot of families that are looking for support,” he said.
Specifically, they’re in need of donations for girls aged three to four, girls and boys aged seven to nine and boys aged 10 to 11.
“We need to pack about 200 campers in those age groups in order to meet the need,” he said.
The contents and size of the hampers vary, but he said they tend to have about 10 to 12 toys, which adds up fast when you have 1,600 children and teens signed up.
“People are struggling to make ends meet. It’s kind of a challenge to pay bills and things like that,” he said.
The hamper program is there to help families put toys under the tree and give them a little bit of breathing room, he said.
Van Duinen is still hopeful the toys and donations will come in, “but the window of opportunity is getting smaller.”
“We're just about a week and a half away, and the trajectory is worrisome,” he said.
New, unwrapped toys can be dropped off at The Salvation Army church at 1320 Gordon Street, Stone Road Mall, Guelph Fire Stations, Mastermind Toys, Guelph Toyota, Walmart Woodlawn, or any of the other locations listed at www.guelphsa.ca/christmasdonations.
He noted that if anyone is organizing a toy drive for the Salvation Army, those toys would ideally be dropped off by the end of this week so they can package the hampers before they need to be distributed on Dec. 20.
Anyone interested in volunteering can learn more here.
