The Salvation Army is well on its way to helping Santa with his toy collection this winter. The church's Toy Store is accepting donations for gifts of toys for children of all ages, and you all know which ones are the most difficult to buy for.
"We're hoping to find more gifts for teens, because they're the hardest," said church volunteer Carmen Mercier.
The public is invited to donate new, unwrapped toys to any of the Toy Store Collection boxes at the following locations across St. Albert until Dec. 19:
- St. Albert Dodge
- St. Albert Honda
- Lowes
- Home Depot
- Wal-Mart
- Riverside Honda
- Mr. Pets
Mercier said the collection box at St. Albert Dodge has already been filled and emptied.
"Most of those toys are already gone because we've already had more than 70 families come through," she continued, noting it has been tough to get the word out to the public to help out the cause, which is one of the reasons the church has worked harder to use social media to get people interested.
"It is mostly the employees that have been donating. What we're trying to do with the Instagram videos is try to reach out to the community to ask them to please bring a donation in," she added. "If we can get younger families involved, where they can drop that toy off with their kids, [it shows] that it's really nice to be able to share and show that our community cares that way. We're hoping that this will help to bring the actual public in to be able to donate."
People can call the church at 780-458-1937 or visit its location at 165 Liberton Dr. or visit instagram.com/tsastalbert or facebook.com/StAlbertSalvationArmy.
The Kettles have counted up about $90,000 as of Dec. 1. You can make your donations to help the St. Albert Salvation Army Church with its programs by visiting Pearson's Your Independent Grocer, Superstore, St. Albert Centre, Safeway, Walmart, Save On Foods at Village Landing, and Costco (starting Dec. 10).
If you don't have cash to give, all kettles are now equipped to accept tap payments from your debit or credit cards.
The campaign runs until Dec. 24. Its goal is to collect $400,000.
Successes for SAIF
St. Albert Stop Abuse in Families had a successful November with its inaugural Paint the Town Purple event, held in conjunction with November's Prevention of Family Violence month.
Multiple businesses, organizations, agencies, and destinations spent the month showing their support and getting St. Albertans to do the same. More than $19,000 has been raised so far, although an official tally has not yet been announced.
SAIF is extremely grateful for the support and wants the community to remember people can still make year-end gifts of financial support to help those impacted by family violence.
"The need has increased significantly during the pandemic and every dollar we raise goes to ensure programming that is supportive, timely, and trauma informed," read the organization's recent newsletter.
Visit stopabuse.ca to learn more.
SAIF also benefited from the festive repeat from one local junior high student.
Zachary Holmes welcomed his North Ridge neighbours back to Christmas in the Park just after dark on Saturday, Dec. 4. The neighbours whose back fences outline Noble Park just off of North Ridge Drive decorated their properties to bring some light into the night. While they enjoyed hot chocolate and rejoiced in each other's company, they also helped to fundraise for SAIF. The lights will stay on through the first week of January 2022, and the collection will continue throughout as well.
Letters lifting hearts of strangers
Letters for Rose has opened up the doors to its St. Albert chapter. The international organization started during the pandemic with the aim of getting volunteers to write and distribute letters to residents in nursing homes. The objective is to reduce the feelings of isolation that are so prevalent in all of us, but are especially problematic in the elderly.
The group just delivered its first round of letters, which was "pretty small" according to reports, but its organizer hopes to sign more people up to the cause. Everyone is invited to visit instagram.com/lfr.stalbert where they can access the link to a registration form and introduction.
