Skip to content

Kettle collections down in Comox Valley

The Salvation Army Family Services program has provided about 475 hampers for Comox Valley families and singles this Christmas season.
31404212_web1_221228-CVR-N-Sally-Ann-1_1
The Salvation Army has 11 kettle locations throughout the Comox Valley this season. Scott Stanfield photo

The Salvation Army Family Services program has provided about 475 hampers for Comox Valley families and singles this Christmas season.

As for the annual kettle campaign, collections have been down a little this year.

“We’re going to be close to making our budget, but we’re well behind where we were last year,” community ministries director Brent Hobden said Thursday, Dec. 22.

Finding volunteers to man the kettles has been a struggle, he added.

“When they’re not manned, people tend not to use our tap machines.”

This year, the Salvation Army has 11 kettle locations throughout the Valley. Volunteers will be collecting until 2 p.m. on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24.

The organization is counting on Friday and Saturday collections, which help pay for the food hampers, and for programs that run throughout the year.

“We depend heavily on this Christmas season to pay for all that,” Hobden said, noting the kettle program needs $140,000.

The Salvation Army hopes to raise a further $160,000 through its mailout campaign. The latter runs until midnight Dec. 31.

•The Salvation Army also operates the Pidcock Shelter in West Courtenay, which offers beds and mats during the winter. Hobden said most of the mats have been filled each night.

“It’s so cold out there,” said Hobden, who extends a big thanks to other local agencies offering the same service, namely the Connect Warming Centre and the temporary extreme weather shelter at St. John the Divine, both in Courtenay. “In conjunction with what we’re doing at the emergency shelter at Pidcock, we’re getting as many people off the street as we possibly can.”

Hobden said it has been a blessing to speak with hundreds of families that have been coming through the Salvation Army this week.

“Knowing that the Salvation Army is there to help them out, and how appreciative they are of the hard work and the money that this community pours back into our less fortunate people…That’s a huge kudos to this community is to how well they care for our homeless people, and our disadvantaged.”



reporter@comoxvalleyrecord.com

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter