GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Annual holiday season campaigns from the Salvation Army will look a bit different this year.
For the Salvation Army of Greater Green Bay, a lot of things are up in the air right now.
“We are concerned. Stores are not open for business in the same way that they were before the pandemic. The places that normally would take a red kettle may or may not take a red kettle this year,” said Director of Social Services Nan Pahl. “Will people be willing to donate? Not everybody’s at work. Places, where we had collection boxes in the past, are working from home. How are those things going to work out?”
There are a lot of changes that the Salvation Army of Greater Green Bay is working to iron out. That ranges from how registration works for Coats for Kids or Christmas assistance – to how their Red Kettle bell-ringers will work.
“People who normally would ring bells for us may or may not be as comfortable ringing bells for us. In places where we are going to put our kettles, we are actually working on a lot of COVID related safety measures. So for example, our bell-ringers will be standing 6 feet away from the kettle, which means if somebody does approach to put money in the kettle, they will not be in that close contact range with the person who’s ringing,” Pahl explained. “For our Coats for Kids campaign, we actually have a registry for good at Walmart, and people can order coats online and have them just shipped right to the Salvation Army.”
Ringers will also be required to wear masks, whether they are inside or outside during their shift. For people who might not be out and about to put physical quarters and dollars into the kettles, there is a virtual kettle available on their website.
Pahl also hopes to get locations that do the best for the Red Kettles on-board to host them again this year, while working with other places that don’t bring in quite as much traffic on other ways they can get involved.
Meanwhile, registration for Coats for Kids will be available through an online form from October 1st-17th. Registration for households still in need of Toys for Tots or other Christmas assistance will run from mid-to-late November.
Normally, the Salvation Army would have 300-400 families in their gym in a relatively condensed period of time for pickup or registration, but that will not be held this year – and they are promoting the online registration forms.
Another major concern as the impact from the pandemic can still be seen in the area – is the number of people that will apply for assistance this year. The Salvation Army of Greater Green Bay has seen a recent rise in families reaching out who have not had the need in the past.
“Going into the holiday season and our coats for kids program, we anticipate that those families will also be affected,” Pahl told WTAQ News.
That means the number of kids being served will likely be on the higher end of what they have seen over the years.
“Coats for Kids, we served about 3,200 children last year. We’re thinking that’s kind of going to be our low number for this year,” Pahl said. “Our Christmas numbers, we usually serve around 4,000 sometimes up to 5,000 children -depending on how our economy has been. I am anticipating this year will probably be on the high end of that.”
For information on how to volunteer, donate, or apply for aid – click here.
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