Salvation Army in need of donations ahead of Christmas

JACKSON, Tenn. — Two Christmas traditions need your help in meeting their goals.

The familiar sound of the Salvation Army Red Kettle bell is still ringing, and they need donations now more than ever.

“At this point, we’ve raised just over $30,000. Our goal is [$140,000]. In comparison to last year, we are about $2,500 down, with 12 days remaining in the season,” said Lt. Mark Cancia with the Salvation Army.

The lack of coin change available has made the in-person donations more difficult. However, you can actually go online and do a virtual donation.

“They can give either one time, they can make an annual donation, or they can sign up to give monthly donations through that website,” Cancia said.

When it comes to their Angel Tree program, they say they need more involvement there as well.

“We have more Angels than we ever have since I’ve been doing it,” said Mabel Sowell, the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree coordinator.

The good news is about 800 tags have been picked up, but that still leaves more than 100 kids needing presents. The deadline to bring presents back is December 15, so the time to pick up an Angel Tree tag is now.

“With COVID, people are losing their jobs every day because of it. People are having to quarantine, their kids are having to stay home because of school,” Sowell said.

Just remember, your donations or gifts make a difference.

“Bagging up the Angels, and giving it to the parents, it’s a lot of joy because we’re helping a family that probably wouldn’t have gotten Christmas if it wasn’t for us,” Sowell said.

There are multiple locations for the Angel Tree in Jackson: Walmart South, Old Hickory Mall, Kroger Stonebrook, and Kroger Lynnwood.

Presents must be returned by December 15 to the Salvation Army Headquarters in east Jackson. The campaign ends December 24.