Richmond Salvation Army officials are looking at increasing their number of volunteers and securing corporate sponsorships to help run its year-round programs to help offset a drop of around $25,000 in this year’s kettle campaign.
Major Kathie Chiu said total donations from the public amounted to around $125,000, compared to $145,000 last year.
But it could have been worse, said Chiu as she marvelled at the generosity of the public in Richmond who rallied in the last week before Christmas Day to boost the figure.
Also reining in the decline was the decision to slightly reduce the overall number of the iconic red donation kettles placed around the community, instead targeting them for the highest-producing locations.
Skewing the numbers further was the fact last year’s campaign stretched a couple of days longer.
Plus, the number people paid to collect donations — who earn minimum wage for a two to four-hour shift — was reduced compared to the 2013 campaign.
“We decided to go with 17 kettles this year instead of 25, and cut in half the number of people paid to collect donations for us,” said Chiu who along with her husband Maj. Ed Chiu run the Salvation Army’s local operation at Richmond Community Church.
Going forward, the number of paid kettle workers is expected to diminish with hopes the vast majority will be volunteers.
While Chiu did not have an exact number of paid workers during this campaign, she said they constitute individuals in need, or the disabled who live on fixed incomes.
“For many, it may be someone who is not working and has a spouse who has a low-paying job,” Chiu said. “Oftentimes, the small amount of money they earn is offset by us not needing to provide their family with a turkey or toys for their children at Christmas.”
As for the impact on programs heading into 2015, Chiu said there were hopes to have a paid position to run a youth ministry coordinator that also works with families.
“We will need to look at filling that need with a volunteer,” she said, adding there will also be exploratory discussions to see if Richmond’s business community would be interested in filling some donation gaps.
People can still make a donation through the Salvation Army website at: salvationarmy.ca by clicking on the “Ways you can help.”
