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Packing gift bags. (Supplied)
Could Use More Volunteers

Salvation Army helping those in need this holiday season

Dec 15, 2022 | 5:25 PM

The Salvation Army in Red Deer is continuing its local efforts in helping those in need during this season of giving.

According to Major Kent Hepditch, the organization’s annual Christmas Kettle Campaign which began on November 12, is only slightly behind last year’s pace in terms of donations.

“It’s just a few thousand, but overall, it’s going fairly well. We have some new locations this year so once we kind of get in the habit of filling those full-time every year, I think it will really help our campaign total, says Hepditch.

Meantime, he says about 130 Christmas Kettle volunteers have stepped up so far this year.

“We could always use more volunteers. The more volunteers we get, the more shifts we can fill,” he explains. “Some people are doing a lot of shifts. We have volunteers doing four hours a day and more, which is amazing.”

Hepditch says their annual Christmas Kettle Campaign is their primary fundraiser each year, noting some of the money raised is used for their Adopt-A-Family Christmas Hampers program and Adopt-A-Senior program held during the holiday season.

He says the Salvation Army has been able to distribute about 155 Adopt-A-Family Christmas hampers and 77 Adopt-A-Senior Christmas hampers so far this season.

Throughout the year (2022), he notes they were also able to help 828 families with food hampers (about 16 families per week). Hepditch says that translates to 2,003 people (1,199 adults and 804 children).

He says one of their biggest programs, however, is their School Backpack program.

“It’s a weekend program where we give students who need food for the weekend. We give them meals that would last for the whole weekend. So right now, I think we’re doing about 230 students I think every weekend, so we send them home with food that will last throughout the weekend because as you know, some students are not in a situation where they really have enough food to last throughout the weekend,” adds Hepditch.

He further points out the Salvation Army’s food bank which also takes appointments each week to help those in need.

Easy meals for students to take home on weekends. (Supplied)

Coming up next week, Hepditch notes the Salvation Army in Red Deer will be hosting a Christmas Dinner for the community on Friday, December 23, at 12:00 p.m. (4837 54 St.).

“We haven’t had one the last couple of years because it seemed like it was being done by a few groups in the city, so we decided to just hold off on that the last couple of years,” he recalls. “But it seems like there’s no other real community Christmas Dinner this year that we know of, so we’ve decided that we would try it again. We’re expecting probably close to 300 people.”

“We want to say thank you to the people of Red Deer and the surrounding area for their great support,” continues Hepditch. “We can only do what we do because of how the community supports us. We’re very grateful for their help.”

For more information on the Salvation Army and its programs in Red Deer or to help out as a volunteer, call 403-346-2251.

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