The Salvation Army will add text-messaging and on-line donations to its traditional Christmas Kettle drive this year, campaign coordinator Sarah Ward told Gibsons council's committee-of-the-whole Tuesday.
The Text to Donate campaign will give donors a number to make a $5 donation that will show up on their cell phone bills, Ward said, adding that details will be printed on a sign placed above each kettle.
"So we're really excited about that," she said.
The campaign also includes a new on-line donation option.
"We're promoting that $10 buys a hot lunch for a struggling member of our community," Ward said.
This year's Christmas Kettle drive kicks off Thursday, Nov. 15, in front of Gibsons Marketplace IGA. Last year's campaign raised $57,000 and this year, Ward said, the target is $60,000.
"That's what I'm hoping for and it makes a huge difference in the kind of services we can provide," she said.
The kettle drive is the Sunshine Coast Salvation Army's only fund-raising campaign of the year and "100 per cent of the funds raised in the community are used here," Ward said.
A single kettle can raise more than $900 a day and the take from all six kettles set up on the Sunshine Coast can exceed $3,000 a day. The funds annually support 1,800 visits to the food bank, 11,272 visits to the bread and produce line, 4,050 hot lunches and other services, Ward said.
Mayor Wayne Rowe noted that large donations to the Salvation Army from local wills and bequests "go to Toronto," rather than stay in the community, but Ward assured the committee, and Coun. Lee Ann Johnson confirmed, that the kettle drive "raises local funds for local needs."
Ward added she had been insistent that all money raised locally from the Text to Donate campaign also be spent on local services.
"We do have needs here, that's for sure," Rowe said.
Ward appeared before the committee to challenge council to volunteer in this year's campaign. Councillors were receptive to the idea and CAO Emanuel Machado said he would also talk to staff so that possibly the Town could cover a whole day.
"You might be up to the challenge," Ward told the committee.
To volunteer, contact Ward at 604-886-3665 or email [email protected].
