A difficult year calls for volunteers and donations for annual kettle campaign

Dale adds many of their volunteers are elderly and not able to come out this year.

The campaign usually has 13-14 kettles throughout the city. But this year they will have 8 or 9 to meet regulations.

Dale says some stores don’t have the room to space out properly.

Money from the kettles help serve hot meals and keep their doors open.

Dale says the need is greater and they need help year-round, not just at Christmas.

“Here in Medicine Hat, the need is going up. For instance, I just did a meeting yesterday explaining that in January our meals were 1,400 and now we’re over 4,000. October was over 4,000. So when you see that big jump and we have less volunteers, to be honest, there’s less money coming in.”

The kettle kickoff is tonight (Thursday, Nov. 19) at 7 pm at the Salvation Army Church on 164 Stratton Way SE.

To follow COVID guidelines, the kickoff will be at one-third capacity and masks are also required.

To volunteer for the campaign, call Ashley the kettle coordinator at 587-253-0740.

“We really need kettle shifts filled so that we can give Christmas to people and so we can fulfill our obligations, our duties throughout the year so that we can share love and give people hope. And I think this year more than ever people need hope,” Dale told Chat News.

by Chantal Wagner

A difficult year calls for volunteers and donations for annual kettle campaign

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