By Orville Williams
With just a little over a week to go, the Salvation Army’s Christmas Kettle initiative is approaching its target, and organisers are calling for more volunteers to give the effort a final boost.
When this year’s edition of the initiative was launched in early November, the target was set at EC$160,000 – an increase from last year’s target.
And, according to Major Raymoncil Pierre, they are confident that that can be reached, despite the fact expectations were higher for this stage.
“We are grateful to God and grateful to the people of Antigua and Barbuda as usual. Up to Saturday, we were able to raise a total of $93,666.16, which would have been well below what our target would have been expecting,” he said.
“But, as I always say, I believe in my people, they have always come through for the Salvation Army [and] they have always come through for Antigua and Barbuda.
“I believe, in the last 10 days that are left, we will – by God’s grace and by the kindness of the people – meet our target,” he told Observer.
Last year’s Christmas Kettle surpassed the goal of $150,000, and as the Major explained, they were caught by surprise with the level of support from the public.
That, he added, is part of the reason they are hopeful this year’s effort will turn out to be a success.
“Last year, we were a little bit ahead in terms of collections, but we had what we call a record that was really unexpected; the people just surprised us in the last moments,” he explained.
“So, I believe – despite the fact that we never expected to get what we got last year – what we have projected for this year, we will surely make it.”
Major Pierre also issued a call for more volunteers to help the Salvation Army meet the target, noting that there are many cases where people are willing to donate, but are not able to as there are no personnel available to give the donations to.
While urging more people to assist the collection efforts, he also urged members of the public who are not able to donate through the kettle, to do so instead by visiting their headquarters at 36 Long Street.