Donations down this holiday

For John Church, a little cold is a small price to pay for helping those in need.

Bundled in layers of clothing in the frigid cold Wednesday afternoon, the Salvation Army volunteer bell ringer sat just outside the entrance to the South Point Walmart, waiting for the generosity of passersby.

“It’s kind of cold but it’s rewarding,” Church said. “You help people out and there’s a lot of needy people out there.”

Church has volunteered with the Red Kettle Campaign with the Ironton Unit of the Salvation Army for the past nine years. He started to volunteer because he got help from the Salvation Army years ago.

“Anybody who needs help and they go up there and really needs it, I don’t know of anyone who’s been turned away,” Church said.

To protect him from the cold, the South Point resident wore two pairs of sweat pants, a thermal T-shirt, a hooded fleece jacket, a hooded Carhartt coat, a Santa hat and boots.

If it’s too cold Church doesn’t volunteer.

“(Coordinator Cline McNeely) leaves it up to us,” Church said.

As customers walk into the store, one man stopped and offered to buy Church some hot chocolate. He politely declined, telling him he was all right at the moment.

Church said this is a common occurrence for the group of four bell ringers during each shift at the store. One woman in particular frequently buys them hot chocolate and refuses their offerings to pay her back, he said.

“Most people are really nice. They’ll do anything they can to help us.”

But while people are generous, donations this year are thin. McNeely said the campaign is at 25 percent of what it was at this time last year.

“With this kind of weather, we’re down quite a bit,” McNeely said. The Huntington, W.Va. Salvation Army has seen fewer donations this year, he said.

“We definitely need some help and we need all that we can get.”

This year’s goal is $14,500.

Volunteers stand at the Food Fair and Walmart in South Point as well as the Proctorville Kroger.

The campaign funds the charity’s budget for the year.

The unit helps Lawrence Countians with vouchers for things like rent and utility bills. McNeely said the organization helped 1,000 to 1,200 people this year.

The charity is also providing $3,000 to purchase turkeys for Christmas food baskets for the Community Mission Outreach. McNeely is waiting to hear if the Salvation Army in Cincinnati, which oversees the Ironton unit, will offset the entire donation. If not, the funds for the turkeys will come from the kettle campaign.

“It’s very important to me that I have enough money,” McNeely said. “I take care of almost everyone who applies for help.”

For more information, contact McNeely at (304) 972-7950.

Checks can be made out to Salvation Army, P.O. Box 8, Chesapeake, OH 45619.