The Williams Lake Salvation Army is hoping to raise $90,000 through its Christmas Kettle Campaign.
The Salvation Army gathered with members from the Community Band to launch its annual fundraising campaign Thursday afternoon at Walmart.
Pastor and executive director Dawn Butt said it’s off to a great start.
“We’ve got the whole weekend filled but I still need lots of volunteers for next weekend and next week. I’ve been posting all over social media so that’s how people are seeing and turning to us to volunteer which is fantastic,” she said.
“I’ve got lots of new people signed up which is great. There are people who have never done it before or thought about doing it have now incented.”
There are six kettle locations in Williams Lake including at Save On, Walmart, Safeway, Wholesale Club, BC Liquor Store, and 7-Eleven.
Butt said because there is also a province-wide contest bracelets which say ‘hope’ on them will be available at each location. An individual will be entered for three prizes if they post an image of themselves wearing the bracelet to social media with the hashtag #hopebracelet.
Butt said that hamper numbers are up this year for single families and couples.
“We have a lot of kids,” she adds.
“We have over 299 kids signed up for toys this so it is quite a big number.”
As well as the kettle locations, angel trees are located at Winners, Canadian Tire, Kit and Kaboodle, Walmart, and Realm of Toys.
“Most of our locations are quickly running out of angels which is a good thing for us, but it, unfortunately, means that our trees will be down sooner.”