As Christmas nears, so grows The Salvation Army’s need to bring Christmas to families in the Valley.
This has been a tough year and The Salvation Army Food Bank has seen a 26 per cent increase in use over the last twelve months, and that demand has translated into the Christmas Hampers.
Shane Hillier of The Salvation Army tells inSide Drumheller that registration has closed for those wishing to receive a Christmas hamper, and they have had requests for 131 hampers. This is up from last year’s 120.
“Just because of the year it has been, we expected there would be more,” he said.
The Salvation Army has been working hard to make sure the hampers are completed in time for Christmas and is grateful for the support of the community.
“We are blown away, when you look provincially at how so many are struggling, it is because of the generosity of Drumheller no one is going hungry at Christmas,” he said.
To fill the hampers, The Salvation Army would like to add a prepared foodstuff to each hamper. These are the prepackaged bags at the Drumheller Co-op and Freson Bros., which contain all the basics for a family. The Salvation Army is in need of about 25 more of these foodstuffs.
Another area The Salvation Army is lagging behind, is its Kettle Campaign. Hillier says they are about $3,000 behind where they were last year.
He says this is very important because these are the funds that are used locally to finance its program in the community.
“This is our big drive to keep us going throughout the year,” said Hillier.
Despite this, the season has gone well kicking off with its annual food drive. This is an important event for The Salvation Army because it helps to stock the shelves of the food bank for most of the year. While there was a great turnout, Hillier says they could still use more donations, including fruit tins and meals in a can, such as Chef-Boyardee.
