DETAILS
Salvation Army Christmas Kettle locations
• Walmart: both South and North doors
• London Drugs in St. Albert Centre
• Save On Foods (Village Landing only)
• Superstore
• *Costco from Dec. 10 to 24
Adopt-a-Kettle stations will likely pop up at other locations such as Save On Foods North and both Safeway stores
The church takes donations through the office via credit card payments. The church is located at 165 Liberton Dr.
An online donation link has also been set up for those that want to donate but are not able to get out: bit.ly/3kV4pCG
Call 780-458-1937 or email [email protected] for more information on volunteering or Adopt-a-Kettle.
COVID-19 can't keep a good kettle down, according to Captain Daniel Rowe, the new officer at the St. Albert Salvation Army Church along with his wife, Capt. Bhreagh Rowe.
"First and foremost, the Salvation Army always strives to partner with the community to be there for the community in need. Pandemic or not, we would be there anyway. The pandemic has just heightened the need of the community so we want to heighten our responses to that," he stated.
The Christmas Kettles have already been set up at five area locations where volunteers will collect monetary donations until Dec. 24. The church has set a goal of raising $400,000, which will help fund its year-long community support efforts.
The church operates as an extension of a larger network of social agencies, all working in tandem to offer the greatest assistance to the greatest needs felt in the community.
In talking about what he saw as one of the city's greatest needs, Rowe referenced a recent St. Albert Gazette article that indicated one in five residents suffered job loss as a result of the pandemic.
"That's insane to read. For us as a Salvation Army, that says there's a need for our resources and what we have to offer. Our main thing that we want to use to counter this fear is the hope that we bring, and a big part of that hope is through our Kettle campaign."
While the pandemic has prompted the temporary shuttering of some of its programs such as the Collective Kitchen and Tot Time, Rowe said it has also demonstrated how reactive the church can be to the community's changing needs.
Perhaps because of the pandemic and also because they are new residents to the city, the Rowes recently undertook a community survey to examine what resources and social supports were available in the city. In doing so, they were able to determine how the community's needs are changing.
That gave them the opportunity to also look at how the church can better serve the people.
"Because we only have X amount of resources. We can't fund everything. We can't do everything. COVID-19 has put this halt on certain things. Let's not be quick to just jump right back into certain programmings."
Homelessness is an issue that he wishes to help alleviate.
"Coming from Mississauga to here, the programs and the initiatives that historically the Salvation Army has done, here, other community services are doing them. We're saying, 'Let's try that ... we get this, this and this,' and then we do a community survey, and wow, there's three other organizations that actually do those things," he continued.
"That also pushed us forward to say, we can't just run off what we've historically done. This is a new day; this is a new time. We need to figure something different out, and St. Albert is situated where if you want to choose not to see a homeless problem, you won't see it. But if you set out and you change your eyes, you say, 'yeah, it's there, and it's visible, and something needs to be done.' We're just hoping we can be the ones that help out with that."
The kettles need helping hands, too
As might be expected, some experienced volunteers have had to bow out of this year's campaign out of concerns for their health. That means fewer stations and fewer helping hands, said Crystal Hanson, one of the volunteer co-ordinators.
That's not all that the pandemic means for the kettles either.
"Things have changed in what the volunteers can do. Everybody has to have a mask and instead of stocking our volunteer bags with candy canes and cards and calendars, we have face masks for volunteers. We've had to change. We can't do handouts, which some of the volunteers are very disappointed with, but they can't share aprons and they can't share bells. There's some changes but the most people have been willing to deal with it," she said.
The important thing is that the kettles are out there because the need is out there.
"We've already had individuals who have said, 'In the midst of all the uncertainty and the changes and the irregularities, we've gone out and we still see Christmas Kettles.' It's a sense of normalcy, which the community has appreciated," Rowe said.
