Salvation Army kettle campaign gets underway

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This year’s Salvation Army Christmas kettle campaign has officially gotten underway in Miramichi, and the group’s Miramichi officers hope to raise $85,000 to $100,000 to fund their 2024 operations and outreach.

The campaign was officially launched Saturday at Canadian Tire by Lieut. Kyron Newbury and Miramichi MLA Michelle Conroy.

Newbury said the kettle drive generates revenue to fund the Salvation Army Miramichi Community Resource Centre’s entire annual operating budget and helps the organization with its various outreach projects, including helping the city’s homeless population.

“We are really in need of volunteers for the kettles this year,” he said. “Many organizations and groups have relied for the past 30 years on volunteers who used to be 50, but are now 80, and there haven’t been as many younger volunteers replacing them.”

The Salvation Army has been serving the Miramichi region for more than 130 years. The faith-based charity’s long-running kettle drive goes until Dec. 24. It’s a key fundraiser for the group’s Christmas programming and various other services offered year-round.

The group also depends on kettle revenue to provide the yearly Miramichi Christmas Assistance program, which serves close to 200 families every year throughout the city and in the Derby, Millerton, Sunny Corner, Lyttleton, Halcomb and Chaplin Island Road areas.

Kettles will be placed at Atlantic Superstore and Sobeys in Newcastle, along with Walmart, Canadian Tire, and Sobeys in Douglastown, and Atlantic Superstore in Chatham until Christmas Eve. Cash and card tap donations are being accepted.

Newbury said every dollar raised in the Miramichi area through the kettles, thrift store, and other donations stays in the community and is spent locally to help people in need. He said volunteers are being sought for two-hour shifts.

“There are a lot of people who aren’t even aware of what the Salvation Army does,” he said.

“But I have heard so many stories from people who have been helped by the Salvation Army in the past and whose entire lives have been changed because someone at a Salvation Army kettle made small talk with them and said ‘hi, how are you. I hope you have a great day. Merry Christmas.'”

For more information, or to volunteer for kettle shifts, contact the Salvation Army office at (506) 622-7826.