Calling community to help
To the editor:
It’s already started to get colder and that time of year is here again — The Salvation Army of Houlton is busy preparing for Christmas! In an effort to serve anyone in Aroostook County this year we are reaching out to anyone and everyone we can to help those in need this holiday season. We are hoping to get you and your business involved in some way.
In order to help all of our clients with a food basket we are asking businesses to commit to donating as many of one item as they can. For example, if one business provides 100 boxes of stuffing and another 200 cans of green beans then we know exactly what we are getting and can easily sort and box it up for the families we serve. If you would like to help your community in this way the items we are looking for are turkeys/hams, stuffing, potatoes, cranberry sauce and canned vegetables.
If you are a smaller business we also have a paper kettle fundraiser, similar to other nonprofits, customers can donate $1, $2 or $3, sign their name and have it posted in your store. Another similar option is a tabletop kettle.
We are having the Angel Tree program again this year. If you would like to have a tree in your business with the angel tags we can provide more information on how this program works and how we can do this together. You can also help with this program by coming to our building and asking for as many angels as you would like. You can buy clothes and toys for a child and return the angel tags with the gifts to our center and we will distribute your donation to the angel you chose.
The last full week before Christmas we will be busy packing Christmas gifts and food boxes for our clients. We can use all the help we can get for this process. The dates are Dec. 17-20. We could also use your help on distribution days, Dec. 21 and 22.
One of the greatest ways you can help is to stand kettles for us. Give us a call and we can sign you up for a day and location of your choosing. You stand and we can even let you know how much money you raised for us. This year we will be having a competition between any service club, church or business who stands. The winner gets bragging rights, a plaque, and mention in the Houlton Pioneer Times in one of our Christmas stories. Days, times and locations are on a first-call-and-sign-up basis, so be the first to sign up for the best place.
Give us a call or stop on in to let us know what you can do to help our community this Christmas season.
Lieutenant Dominic Nicoll
Lieutenant Elizabeth Nicoll
