Early donations to Give-A-Christmas welcome
Sparkle, the Christmas star, wants to remind Herald-Standard readers that this is a short collection season for the Give-A-Christmas campaign this year.
“We would readers who are thinking about contributing to the Give-A-Christmas fund to consider making an early donation. Thanksgiving Day came later in the month this year, and that’s the official kickoff day for Give-A-Christmas. We’re only a few days into the campaign, and it’s December already,” said Sparkle. “That means we have fewer days to reach our goal of raising $50,000 for the Salvation Army in your neighborhoods. Remember that all money raised by Give-A-Christmas stays in this area to help your neighbors.”
This is the 29th year for Give-A-Christmas. Funds are distributed to branches of the Salvation Army in the Herald-Standard readership area. The money that readers contribute is given to the branch of the Salvation Army that serves the area where they live, but readers can designate their funds go to any of the branches. There is no sharing of funds.
“These early days of the campaign are a great time to help,” said Sparkle. “It encourages others to give and offers hope to those who are in need.”
The needs of local residents are served by a number of Salvation Army units, including the Greene County Service Center, which handles all of Greene County.
Sister Audrey Quinn, director, explained, “We do emergency food boxes, help with utility and rent assistance, provide winter outerwear for people and toys for kids at Christmas.”
She noted, “We have a warehouse where people can shop once a week for free for household items, clothing and furniture when we have it. It depends on what comes in.”
Twice a year, the service center hosts a flea market to raise money to send youths to Camp Allegheny, a Christian camp in Ellwood City, as well as Project Bundle Up for winter outerwear.
“We also help our local food bank with food distribution once a month in Produce to People. (This month) we had 616 households come through,” Quinn said.
Donations to Give-A-Christmas are significant to the Salvation Army.
“That’s a fabulous help because we get donations from across the county so we appreciate what the Herald-Standard does for us,” said Quinn. “We couldn’t exist if we didn’t have donors.”
Donations will continue to be accepted until noon Dec. 23. The final amount will be reported in the Christmas Eve edition of the Herald-Standard. So far, readers have contributed $60 to the campaign this year.
Today’s donors include Nick Mihalko, in remembrance of Andy Mihalko, and the Juniata Methodist Church.
Donations can be mailed to Give-A-Christmas, P.O. Box 1147, Uniontown, PA 15401 or brought to the Herald-Standard office in Uniontown from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. Sparkle cans also have been placed in numerous store locations in the Herald-Standard distribution area.