Sparkle back
There are certain signs that herald the beginning of the Christmas season. Santas start popping up everywhere. Christmas trees are for sale on almost every street corner. Then, there’s also the annual re-emergence of Sparkle, the Christmas star, who urges local residents to make contributions to the Herald-Standard’s Give-A-Christmas campaign, which raises funds for various Salvation Army units in the area.
And what a job Sparkle has done over the years. With her Christmas spirit spurring the kindness and generosity of local residents, the campaign has raised $1,111,562 to help the needy in our area.
The campaign is now in its 30th year, and to mark the anniversary, Robert Pinarski, publisher of the Herald-Standard, has announced a Herald-Standard Give-A-Christmas Day will be held in partnership with the Salvation Army from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday.
“All Herald-Standard executives, directors and other employees who volunteer will be out that day, handing out newspapers for contributions to Sparkle and the Red Kettle campaigns at 20 locations throughout the readership area,” said Pinarski. “We are looking forward to rolling up our sleeves and helping Sparkle reach her goal of $50,000. We’re thrilled to be in partnership with the Salvation Army.”
The campaign’s success over the years has been especially remarkable, considering that our area is far from affluent, and many of those who give to the campaign every year struggle themselves to make ends meet.
“We want to thank our readers for all they have contributed over the years to this campaign, which uses the funds to help their neighbors,” said Sparkle.
That’s what really makes the Give-A-Christmas campaign so special. All of the money raised goes to local branches of the Salvation Army, so you are really helping your neighbors through this program.
There’s no bureaucratic mess. No hoops to jump through. It’s just local people helping local people. And we can’t think of a better way to get in the holiday spirit.
As usual, the Herald-Standard is running stories on a daily basis with the amount collected that day and the names and comments of individual donors.
Any money contributed by a reader goes to the Salvation Army unit that supports the community in which the reader lives. The reader, however, may designate his or her donation go to any unit in the Herald-Standard readership area.
For the first time, readers can make online donations to the campaign at salvationarmywpa.org/GiveAChristmas.
Donors can also mail contributions to Give-A-Christmas, c/o Herald-Standard, 8 E. Church St., Uniontown, Pa., 15401, or bring them to the Herald-Standard office in downtown 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.
Donations to the campaign will be accepted until noon on Dec. 23, and the grand total will be announced in the Christmas Eve edition of the Herald-Standard.
Donors are urged to make their contribution as soon as possible. Christmas will be here before you know it, and things get particularly hectic as the big day draws near. You don’t want the deadline to pass without making your contribution.
And we know you’ll want to support the campaign as you’ve done throughout the past years. The program has come a long way since the first year back in 1985 when the goal was $10,000. We’re very proud to be part of the campaign. It’s been amazing to watch it grow over the years. And with any kind of luck we think the next 30 years will be even more successful than the first 30.