Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Underneath a mountain of toys in the basement of the Napanee Community Church of the Salvation Army, volunteers are hard at work preparing Christmas baskets.
Though there’s already a towering collection of stuffed animals and action figures, they are still not enough to cover all the families that are expected to need a little help this holiday season. That’s why the Salvation Army is once again calling on the community to be generous this year and to donate a new unwrapped toy.
Abby Mills, director of the Napanee Salvation Community Ministries, estimates a full 100 per cent increase in the amount of people who will require their services this year compared to 2018.
“It’s going to be a challenging Christmas season for a lot of people and we want to be here to help,” said Mills. “We can help because the community supports the Kettle Campaign and supports the Toy Drive and the various things that we do at Christmas time. We’re really moving into our busiest season in a year that’s been very busy for us.”
Those interested in receiving a Christmas hamper this year-which include food and toys for families in need-can register now.
“With the pandemic and all of the restrictions that come with the pandemic, we are doing registration over the phone this year,” said Mills. “If people would like a basket they need to call. They can call our Food Bank office at 613-354-7633 or the secondary number which is 613-561-0973 and we’ll take the call. At that time when we register you, we will give you an appointment time to come pick up rather than have people come here en masse.”
Hamper pickups will be scheduled for the week of Dec. 14-18.
Anyone looking to donate to the toy drive can seek out a Christmas tree display located at TD Canada Trust, RBC, BMO, Scotia Bank, CIBC, Home Hardware or Metro. They can then pick a tag that will list an age and gender of a local child in need of a gift. The gifts can then be dropped off to the 82 Richard Street of the Salvation Army.
Also getting underway this week is the Salvation Army’s traditional Kettle Campaign.
“We’re starting a little bit smaller this year because COVID restrictions are challenging pretty much everything that we do,” said Mills. “We will start in Metro and No Frills and we will expand from there when we start going full time with our campaign. We are going to be offering more opportunities to make a donation with your credit card, we’ll have those two locations outfitted with point of sale terminals as soon as we receive them from our head office and we’ll have more options available throughout the Christmas season to make it easier for people to donate. We do very much ask for the support of the community to help us to look after the vulnerable people in our community.”
The Kettle Campaign is the Salvation Army’s biggest fundraiser of the year.
“The money that we collect at out our local kettles stays local to help local families in need,” added Mills. “It helps us run our Food Bank. It helps us with our boots and backpack programs. It helps us to do our summer camp program and all of the various programs that we offer throughout the year.”
Volunteers looking to stand next to the kettles can call this year’s coordinator Tina Steele at 613-453-7445.
“We have a number of changes that we’re doing at the kettles as well,” said Mills. “Volunteers will be provided with personal protective equipment while they are there and we are doing everything we can to keep them safe while they are there, including if they would like to only do a one hour shift rather than a two hour shift, we can accommodate that.”