The Salvation Army is heading into its busiest season, and once again, it looks like the community will step up for those most in need.
The Christmas season is a special time, but for many, it is a time of struggle. This has been exacerbated by a tough year leading up to Christmas. Major Robert Burell of the Drumheller Salvation Army says there has been an increase in demand for the service of The Salvation Army.
“The number of new families that have approached us for help in the last 12 months is over 100. It is just a reflection of the state of the economy with everything going on,” Burrell tells the Mail.
The season kicks off with the annual Red Bag Food Drive. This is slated for Thursday, November 30. Red bags are in this week’s issue of The Drumheller Mail. On the day of the food drive, volunteers will be meeting up at muster points throughout the community and collecting the Red Bags filled with non-perishable food items from residents who can leave them on their doorstep for pick up.
“The Red Bag Food Drive covers us up to the Christmas point and into the new year a bit,” he said, adding it also contributes to the Christmas food hampers.
To volunteer, contact Summer Manca at 403-821-3163.
The Salvation Army is also ready to Kick off the Kettle campaign this Friday, November 17 at Freson Bros. Burrell says this is one of the most important campaigns of the year and kettles will be at local grocery stores through the season leading up to Christmas. So far they have not set a goal for the campaign.
“We are doing very very well manning our kettles this year. We have a good percentage all taken care of, but there are still openings available. You can contact the office if you are interested.”
Along with the Kettle campaign, the Salvation Army has a mail-in donation campaign.
There have been some changes and now the program is being administered locally, and all the funds raised through this campaign are eligible for tax receipts and all the funds are used locally.
“We serve just over 10,000 households in our catchment, going well out to Hanna and all areas around,” he said, adding they are working at getting their mail-in campaign out to the local post office shortly.
“This is probably our biggest contributor of the year. It keeps things running,” said Burrell.
Hamper registration begins on Monday, November 20 and runs until December 1. The Salvation Army will take appointments from Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and until 7 p.m. on Tuesdays. Call 403-823-2215 for an appointment.

An unexpected find at a goodwill store in Calgary brought back to life the memory of a Drumheller-born veteran and his military career.
A Goodwill Store on McLeod Trail in Calgary happened upon a collection of military service medals among its donations, some going back as far as the First World War and as recent as the Korean War.
Some of these items belonged to Drumheller-born Berkley Albert James Franklin.
Franklin, often known as Bark or Badge, was born in Drumheller In February 1927. During World War II, he enlisted for the Pacific Force and joined the Second Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) at Currie Barracks in 1945. He served from January to June 1946 as part of the PPCLI Regimental Police at Shilo, Manitoba. His career continued, and he participated in exercises from Yukon to Fort St. John.
He served with PPCLI First and Third Battalions as Platoon Sergeant in Korea from 1952-1953, and was later promoted to Staff Sergeant and served with the First Battalion, D Company as Battalion Orderly Sergeant in Fort MacLeod, Germany from 1955-1957. He retired from the military in 1970 as Master Warrant Officer.
The medals have been donated to the PPCLI Museum at the Military Museums in Calgary.
Cpl. Andrew Mullett, manager at the PPCLI told CTV news, “It’s just a piece of metal, but attached to these medals are stories and sacrifices that these men and women made for our country. This is definitely up there with the rarer donations. We now have about 50 donation items from Badge already, so these medals complete the set.”
They are now on display at the Museum.
Some of the medals also belonged to Arthur Franklin of Manitoba who served in the First World War. Because the two soldiers share a last name, the Museum is researching as to whether they are relatives.