Salvation Army begins annual holiday programs

During the months of October, November and December, the Salvation Army will undertake efforts during the holiday season to help families in need.

The Salvation Army has provided holiday assistance programs in Bloomington since 1907. Throughout October, the Salvation Army is collecting coats from various Bloomington businesses to provide appropriate winter wear for children and families in need.

“There’s a lot of children and family members in this community that will go into the colder months without the appropriate winter wear, and you will see that sometimes on the streets,” said Peter Iversen, community relations and volunteer coordinator for The Salvation Army in Bloomington.

The Salvation Army also helps coordinate the Angel Tree Program, which provides toys to youth up to the age of 14. Parents or guardians of children in the community can come to the Salvation Army to register for Christmas assistance.

The children’s information is kept confidential, but information about their gender, clothing size and wish list for toys is put on angel tags, Iversen said.

Iversen said families must register for the Angel Tree Program by the first week of November.

The angel tags are distributed throughout the community on trees that go up in businesses, the mall, churches and other places of worship.

“People who frequent those different institutions take one of those tags off the tree and then they go shopping for that child,” Iversen said. “The person who goes shopping will most likely never meet the child, and the child will most likely never meet the donor.”

The Salvation Army also assists with the national Red Kettle Campaign, where they put red kettles in 21 sites in Monroe County, and volunteers come out and ring the bell. This year, the Campaign will begin Nov. 12 and end at noon on Christmas Eve.

Iversen said the Salvation Army has a goal to raise $160,000 by noon on Christmas eve and to fill 100 percent of its 5,900 hours of bell ringing with volunteers.

“All the $160,000 stays right here in Bloomington,” Iversen said. “That money will go to our food pantry to help put food on the table for families who are experiencing food insecurity.”

The $160,000 will go to a program called Pathway of Hope and to emergency financial assistance so that families can keep the heat on and pay the rent and avoid homelessness, Iversen said.

Iversen said the Salvation Army in Bloomington usually serves 1,100 children in Monroe County through its holiday programs.

“All these children are from Monroe County,” Iversen said. “The number over the last five years has remained relatively stable at around that 1,000 children mark, but over time that number has grown substantially.”

Iversen said almost all of the programs they do throughout the holiday season are geared toward children.

“What really breaks your heart is when you see families come in here to the Salvation Army who are in need,” Iversen said. “These children don’t have options. This is the way that their lives are, and as a minor, there’s not a lot of options for them to escape the situation.”

Iversen said this is where the Salvation Army gets involved.

“We don’t solve poverty, but we work directly with families to decrease the effects it has on these children, to give them hope, and that’s primarily what we do here,” Iversen said.

— Alli Friedman