Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Accounting for the strain facing the average family budget these days, the fact the Napanee Salvation Army Kettle Campaign came within striking distance of its goal is impressive.
That’s how Abby Mills, director of community ministries for the Napanee Salvation Army looks at it.
“Our Christmas Campaign (goal) was $120,000 and to date it has brought in $118,821.31,” said Mills. “We are about $1,200 short of our goal, which would have been wonderful to get there but given the current economic climate, I’m very happy with this total. It was more of a struggle to reach the goal this year than it was even during the height of the pandemic. I think that’s really a reflection of how much more people are struggling right now to look after their own needs.”
While standing next to the kettle this holiday season Mills noted it was a regular occurrence to see shoppers studying their receipts as they left the store, scanning the paper in disbelief at the sudden jump in price of everyday items.
That rise in the cost of groceries has translated to more people visiting the local food bank.
“Last year 44 per cent of the people that we served through our food bank were new,” said Mills. “They were either reaching out for the first time or they had not needed help in so long we had to completely renew their profile in our data management system. That really speaks to me about how much harder it is for people to make ends meet now. Even as we’re seeing that increase we’re serving roughly 300 people a month. At the same time we are seeing that increase in expenses so for example over the last six months we’ve seen the price of the bread that we purchase, increase by 50 cents a loaf. If you’re buying a couple of loaves of bread that’s easier to absorb than when you’re buying bread to feed 300 people.”
Looking ahead to the coming year, the Salvation Army will have to deal with the dual struggles of rising costs coupled with fewer dollars available from community donors.
“It’s definitely going to be a challenging year for us,” said Mills. “We still are looking for a location for our Thrift Store which means we don’t have the financial support that the Thrift Store would offer to us.”
To that end, Mills reminds the community that the Salvation Army doesn’t have the space to store thrift store donations at this time and ask that people not bring items to the food bank.
Drawing on her experience from the 2008 recession, Mills says 2023 will be when the Salvation Army sees firsthand the financial fallout from the pandemic. In 2008 it took about two to three years for the financial struggles to trickle down to the point that more families started reaching out for assistance.
Though the holiday season has concluded for another year, the importance of fundraising continues.
“The need never goes away,” said Mills. “We always see a huge influx of donations at Christmas which is wonderful. We know that through the winter months we’re going to need a continual influx of food donations for the food bank but also financial donations that we can direct towards the atypical requests that we get so that we can be able to provide ongoing help in a wide variety of ways.”
On a brighter note, next month will mark one year since the Salvation Army relocated to its current location at 81 Dairy Ave. Over the last year they’ve been able to restart some of their previous programs such as bible studies and in-person skills training while expanding its volunteer roster. They’re now focusing on introducing new programs in the coming months such as anger management for kids and additional pathway to hopes training programs to help people improve their living situations through skills training.