With the holiday season approaching, local groups are kicking off their campaigns to help others.
On Nov. 16, the Salvation Army set up red kettles and began ringing bells at local stores, including two new locations at the Dover Mall and Redners Market on Scarlet Circle.
Dana Smith, coordinator of the red kettle campaign, said more than 130 volunteers rang bells for more than 13,000 hours last year and raised approximately $67,000 through spare change dropped in the kettles.
“Everybody gets nervous when times are bad, but people see the impacts of the economy on themselves and know that it must be impacting others as well,” Smith said. “Last year was one of the best years for us in recent memory.”
The campaign aims to raise $69,000 this year, all of which will support the Salvation Army’s Christmas program, which provided more than 400 families with boxes filled with toys and other amenities last year. The funds also support many of the Salvation Army’s programs, including the soup kitchen and afterschool programs for kids.
Volunteers will be ringing the bells from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday until Christmas Eve.
Mom’s House, Inc., 864 South State St., offers single parents facing unplanned pregnancies with supportive services to complete their education and find jobs. For Christmas, the group placed ornaments on a tree with the gifts desired by children and the moms that are part of the program.
Renee Bullock, director of Mom’s House, said the group also needs donations of paper towels, canned goods and baby food, as well as volunteers to help with preparation of daily meals.
The Dover Mall started its Be A Santa for a Senior program Nov. 12, and people can take an ornament from the tree near the guest services booth and deliver an unwrapped present to the booth by Dec. 10.
The mall anticipates delivering 500 presents to seniors at various nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Kent County through the program, said Tricia Southard, director of marketing and business development for the Dover Mall.
Southard said the mall also is displaying the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree until Tuesday, Dec. 15. The trees are located near the place for taking photos with Santa and are decorated with ornaments with a gift desired by an underprivileged child. After taking an ornament, people can return the unwrapped gift to a box underneath the tree.
The Central Delaware Detachment of the Marine Corps League, an organization made up of Marine veterans, is sponsoring this year’s Toys for Tots program in Delaware. Boxes for donated toys have been out around Dover since the latter part of October, said League Commandant George T. Weiss Sr.
Their goal is to collect enough to give at least three toys to each child in a needy family Weiss said. So far, he added, the poor economy does not seem to have affected donations.
“That really hasn’t made a difference,” he said. “We thought last year, when the economy started to go down, would be bad, but we got more than 8,000. This year, I think we’ll do OK.
“I think people are more generous when they know others are having hard times,” Weiss said.
These are not the only local groups that are organizing donation drives or hosting holiday dinners. Visit www.doverpost.com for a more complete list.
To submit your holiday philanthropic event to our online list, email Sarika Jagtiani at sarika.jagtiani@doverpost.com.
