The Shadow
Salvation Army Christ-mas kettles are falling slightly short of their seasonal goal of $75,000.
According to Major Kim Edward Feinauer, corps officer, giving slowed below projections as the campaign entered the final 10 days of the campaign.
“As of Wednesday, Dec. 19, we have raised $60,000,” he said, “which means that we have four kettle days remaining to raise the remaining $15,000.
According to trends, we have seen in the past, we are likely to raise $10,000 to $12,000 in that time; so even in the best-case scenario, it appears we will fall short of the goal.”
Major Feinauer acknowledged that the kettle campaign of the prior year was in a similar situation, but met its goal when an anonymous donor gave a $5,000 money order.
“God intervened,” he said, “when it appeared that our efforts had fallen short.”
Major Feinauer is praying that the same will happen again.
This has been a challenging season for the Salvation Army, Major Feinauer reported, with unusually low temperatures and an unusual amount of rain, not to mention the snow storm of Dec. 9.
“Oddly enough,” he said, “our weakest kettle days have come on the few days that we had good weather.”
Despite challenges with the kettles, Major Feinauer said that volunteerism is stronger than what it was the prior year and all the Christmas gifts for children have been filled through the Angel Tree.
A notable bright spot is that a young girl named Jenna McFarland has the top fundraising kettle of the year, raising at Wal-Mart $811.23 in just two hours.
The Salvation Army, an evangelical part of the universal Christian church established in London in 1865, has been supporting those in need in His name without discrimination since 1879 in the United States.
Nearly 30 million Americans receive assistance from the Salvation Army each year through the broadest array of social services that range from providing food for the hungry, relief for disaster victims, assistance for the disabled, outreach to the elderly and ill, clothing and shelter to the homeless and opportunities for underprivileged children.
Eighty-two cents of every dollar the Salvation Army spends is used to support those services in 5,000 communities nationwide.
For more information on the Salvation Army, visit the website at www.salvationarmyusa.org.
