Salvation Army’s Kettle Campaign could reach fundraising target

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“It’s used for our community ministries program, our seniors, our food bank assistance program,” he explains. “We’ve got a variety of programs, especially our kid’s weekend feeding program, just to assist those who are in need in the city. The funds stay in Red Deer to be used for that purpose.”

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Bridger says volunteer support of the Kettle Campaign was also strong.

“We had very few empty spaces and that’s only because of last minute cancellations for the most part,” says Bridger. “But pretty much every spot was filled for the campaign. You always have some last minute cancellations, people not able to make it and typically we have a few floaters that are able to fill in at kind of a moment’s notice, so that worked out well for us as well.”

Elsewhere, sponsors were down for the Salvation Army’s Adopt-A-Family program, according to Bridger, despite the number of families needing help this year slightly increasing.

“We ended up with 199 families compared to 197 the year before and the senior applications, we ended up with 46, as opposed to 32 applications the year before,” he explains. “When we have families or seniors that are not sponsored, then from our resources, we make sure that all of the applicants do get a fair Christmas and a good Christmas, so we look after them ourselves. I know that we had to look after in excess of 100 families ourselves.”

As for the Salvation Army’s annual Christmas Day Dinner, Bridger says fewer people came out this year but strong volunteer support made it a success.

“Our numbers seem to be declining in recent years, which is probably not a bad thing but we ended up serving 176 meals on Christmas Day which included some deliveries to shut-ins as well,” states Bridger. “We have an awesome volunteer team. We ended up with 26 volunteers Christmas Day, so it’s always a good feeling just to know that we’ve been able to help out those that otherwise would have gone without.”

Despite total donations being down significantly over the Christmas season, Bridger feels the Salvation Army is in good shape starting 2019.

“Our donations that came into the office, they were down from the previous year, we were actually about $20,000 below last year,” admits Bridger. “But fortunately with our reserves that we did have and do have available, it shouldn’t impact our services and our programs this year, we should be fine. Obviously we don’t want to be doing that each year but right now we’re in good shape.”

Overall however, Bridger is grateful for all the support shown by the community towards their programs and services.     

“I just want to express our sincere appreciation to the people of Red Deer and surrounding area,” states Bridger. “The support that we get is absolutely phenomenal and because of the support, we’re able to provide for the people that are in need in our community and we’ll continue doing that. Just a big ‘thank you’ to all, many have gone the extra mile to help us out and we just want to wish them the best in the New Year.”