Christmas campaign kicks off
The Herald-Standard is kicking off this year’s Give-A-Christmas campaign today with a goal of raising $40,000 for the Salvation Army. The campaign is off to a good start, with Atlas Energy Inc. donating $2,500 to lead off the drive.
“Thank you so much,” said Sparkle, the Christmas star, who is the official mascot for the campaign. “We are so thrilled to have such a great start to this year’s campaign. When economic times are so tough, there are so many people turning to the Salvation Army and we want to do all we can to help them help others.”
In 2008, Herald-Standard readers donated $52.608. This is the 24th year for the campaign and since its inception, Give-A-Christmas has raised $825,650 to help the Salvation Army carry out its mission.
Capt. Jennifer Blessing of the Uniontown Corps of the Salvation Army said, “I know Salvation Army offices around the area and many of them rely on funding from Give-A-Christmas.
It definitely helps us meet our goal. Uniontown readers are generous and we appreciate it. It’s an extra red kettle and it really does help us quite a bit.”
Ginny Knor, director of marketing and public relations for Western Pennsylvania Division, headquartered in Carnegie, said, “With this current financial downturn, any financial support program is very much appreciated. We’re finding more and more families coming to us as a result of situational poverty instead of generational poverty. Not only do our current families have needs but we’re struggling to attend to the needs of thousands of new families across the division.”
Donations for Give-A-Christmas will be received until noon Wednesday, Dec. 23. The final amount collected will be reported in the Christmas Eve edition of the newspaper.
Contributions will be sent to the service unit of the Salvation Army that provides for the area in which the donor lives, but readers can designate that their donations go to another service unit. Service units do not share funds.
The service units of the Salvation Army that receive funds from Give-A-Christmas include the following from Fayette County:
Albert Gallatin Service Center includes Adah, Allison, Brier Hill, Brownsville and West Brownsville, Cardale, Chestnut Ridge, East Millsboro, Edenborn, Fairbank, Fairchance, Gans, Gates, Grays Landing, Grindstone, Hibbs, Hiller, Isabelle, Keisterville, Labelle/Maxwell, Lake Lynn, Lamberton, Leckrone, Martin, Masontown, McClellandtown, Merrittstown, New Geneva, New Salem, Newell, Oliphant Furnace, Point Marion, Republic, Ronco, Smithfield, Smock, Uledi, Upper Middletown and Waltersburg.
Connellsville Service Center includes Champion, Connellsville, Dunbar, Indian Head, Melcroft, Mill Run, Normalville, South Connellsville and White.
Hopwood/Markleysburg Service Unit includes Brownfield, Chalk Hill, Farmington, Gibbon Glade, Hopwood, Markleysburg and Ohiopyle.
Perryopolis/Dawson Service Unit includes Dawson, Dickerson Run, Layton, Leisenring, Perryopolis, Star Junction, Van Meter, Vanderbilt, West Leisenring, Whitsett and Wickhaven.
Uniontown Worship and Service Center includes Lemont Furnace, Mount Braddock, Oliver and Uniontown.
The Greene County Service Center takes care of the entire county.
In Somerset, the Confluence Service Unit handles Addison, Confluence, Fort Hill, Listonburg and Ursina.
In Westmoreland County, Scottdale Service Unit handles Scottdale, Everson, Ruffsdale, Alverton and Tarrs.
Donations can be mailed to Give-A-Christmas, P.O. Box 1147, Uniontown, Pa. 15401 or brought to the Herald-Standard office in Uniontown weekdays during business hours. Sparkle cans also have been placed in 250 store locations in the Herald-Standard distribution area.
Sparkle donations are also being accepted at the Salvation Army’s Christmas Castle at Uniontown Mall. For $1, donors can write their names on a paper star to hang in the Sparkle sky.