ESTEVAN - The Christmas season proved to be a success for the Estevan Salvation Army.
Thanks to the generosity of local people, they were able to exceed the $90,000 goal for the kettle and mail-out campaigns. The December fundraising efforts brought in about $133,000.
"The campaigns went really well," said Estevan Salvation Army director of ministry Ronza Reynard. "We've exceeded our [goal], and we are very excited about that. We are truly blessed to have a community like Estevan, who supports us, trusts us, sees the need in the community and is willing to help out their neighbours, their friends and co-workers and help us be able to do that."
Reynard noted that throughout her 12 years with the ministry, most of the time, the total for Christmas campaigns came a little bit above the set number. There were a couple of years when they came really close but didn't reach it. And she could recall just one time when they came as far over the objective as they did at the end of 2022.
"When we set a goal, we never know how that goal is going to turn out, if we're going to meet it, not meet it or exceed it like we have this year. And I'm pleasantly surprised that there was so much community support," Reynard said.
"We've all gone to grocery stores. We've gone to extracurricular activities. Things are just expensive,” said Reynard.
“Times are tough for everybody … And I think seeing the prices of everything increase, seeing people struggle in our community for whatever reason, other people were able to step up and say, 'I gotcha, we're going to help out our neighbours, and we're going to help out our friends.' Other people have had fundraising campaigns, and they've met their goals and exceeded them. It just goes to show that Estevan and the surrounding communities really care about their neighbours, and they want to help in whatever way they can."
The Salvation Army runs several programs to support local people. They serve their seniors' lunch twice a month, they work with one of the schools to provide a feeding program, they supply filled backpacks to relieve some stress around the beginning of the school year and they run an income tax program, but their focus is the food bank that currently provides groceries to about 100 families a month.
"Having a Christmas campaign where we can exceed our goal is absolutely fantastic. It is absolutely fantastic that we get that support, and we know that we can help keep our shelves full and be able to meet the needs of the community," Reynard said.
The kettles were manned really well this year, she added, and they've also seen many young people joining them as volunteers. Not only were they able to exceed their monetary fundraising goals, but they also had many businesses stepping forward to run food drives.
"Definitely, way more food drives happened this year than in the last two years. So right now, our shelves are nice and full. And we have a little bit of back stock," Reynard said.
The shelves were full come January, but Reynard said supplies move fast when you have dozens of families relying on that support on a regular basis with a growing demand. But with the community support, Reynard believes they will be able to continue helping as many people as there are requiring that help.
"I just find Estevan is a very generous community, and they're all about community. Whatever is happening, and somebody needs help, some group or organization puts out a call, and I find that the city just steps right up and says, 'Okay, what do you need me to do? How can I help?'” said Reynard.
“We get that support all year long, and at Christmas is just heightened because it is our biggest fundraiser of the year.”
She added that with some funds in their hands, once they identify further ways that they can help the community, they may look into bringing in some new programs in 2023.
"We are so thankful to the community for supporting us this year and every year. And we look forward to maybe some new things to happen in 2023," Reynard said.
The Salvation Army is looking forward to supporting the community throughout the year. Reynard also noted that people who may need their help should try to reach out in advance as they are usually pretty busy.
"If somebody is struggling for whatever reason, and they call, and we have to say our next appointment is a week from today, that's hard. And it's hard to project what happens," Reynard explained.
"Sometimes an emergency just happens. We try to help the best we can in that situation, but we're trying to encourage the people who use the food bank to call, even if you know it's going to be a couple of days down the road, don't wait till you have nothing. We're not the grocery supplier for the whole month, what we give you will not last a month. It's just there to help you offset maybe some other cost until your paycheque or whatever cheque comes in. So, we are just always encouraging people to be a little proactive on it and call us as soon as you can to get in."
