FILE PHOTO - The Salvation Army Community Church in Kamloops is pictured in this screenshot from Google Street View. The Salvation Army in Kamloops set a fundraising record in 2021 while lending a hand to those displaced by flooding in Merritt last fall.

Image Credit: GOOGLE STREET VIEW

The Salvation Army in Kamloops set a fundraising record in 2021 while lending a hand to those displaced by flooding in Merritt last fall.

Salvation Army corps officer Capt. Cory Fifield said the 2021 Christmas campaign brought in a little more than $497,000.

The largest part of that total came from its Christmas Kettle endeavour, with volunteers ringing in $247,848. Another $187,756 arrived via mail or in-person donations and $61,531 was donated online.

The goal in 2021 was exceeded by some $7,000 for kettles and $97,000 overall — the organization’s highest fundraising season ever — and the funds stay within the community that raised them, used to support various programming.

“It was a really good year considering all the potential challenges, still dealing with COVID-19-related stuff,” Fifield said. “Recruiting volunteers is always a challenge in the midst of pandemic rules.”

The Sally Ann’s Christmas campaign began three days before flooding displaced thousands of Merritt residents on Nov. 15, 2021, and the organization took on the additional ask of helping evacuees.

“That day, we began responding at the evacuation centre, serving meals and snacks and refreshments,” Fifield said, noting the Salvation Army was on site until Dec. 15.

The organization has a flood relief grant for which evacuees can apply.

In all, the organization handed out 4,000 meals, 7,893 snacks and 5,672 drinks to Merritt flood evacuees, which included some 3,000 people coming through the emergency reception centre on McArthur Island.

The Sally Ann helped both Kamloops and Merritt families with Christmas hampers of toys and food, aiding 247 from Kamloops and 197 in Merritt — nearly 200 additional care packages the organization had not planned for in 2021.

“We don’t normally do Merritt, but we felt that with everything going on, it was something we thought we could do,” Fifield said, noting that couldn’t have happened without the support of other local churches.

Other endeavours Kamloops’ Salvation Army undertook last fall included the Coats for Folks program, in which they collected some 600 donated jackets for the less fortunate through social agencies in town. The agency also collected food and funds for food-insecure families and its Be a Hunger Hero program challenged local schools to donate non-perishable food items, with OLPH elementary winning the competition with the most weight in food per student.

Currently in its “quiet season,” the Salvation Army runs myriad programs throughout the year, including its emergency food bank, meal services for city homeless, funding back to school school supplies, an empowerment program for young girls and a family fun night, which is currently served through a take-home model.

Looking forward in 2022, Fifield said the Salvation Army, which also runs church programming, wants to host in-person, on-site events again with pandemic protocols in place.

“That’s been the biggest thing that COVID-19 has impacted — our ability to build relationships in person, so that’s going to be our big goal this year,” Fifield said.

— This story was originally published by Kamloops This Week.

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