SALVATION ARMY MAKES PLEA FOR DONATIONS TO TREE OF LIGHTS DRIVE

The Salvation Army is seeing an increase in requests for help at the same time its Tree of Lights campaign is running $7,500 behind last year's efforts.

Contributions are down from both the mail appeal and the kettle drive, said Dennis Marchi, manager at Schnucks and chairman of the Salvation Army's Christmas campaign.

Unseasonably warm weather and a shorted kettle season meant fewer donations early in the kettle campaign, which began Nov. 12, said Maj. Robert Gauthier of the Salvation Army. Then rainy weather put a damper on kettle collections last weekend, Marchi said.

"We set our goal higher because the economy has been so good, but it seems to be going in the other direction," Marchi said of the decline in contributions over last year.

This is at the same time that needs have been increasing, he said.

"We hoped to raise more money than last year," Gauthier said. The goal for this year's Christmas campaign is $220,000. Last year's goal was $200,000 and about $202,000 was raised.

"We need to reach that goal so we can help those who come to us so we won't have to turn people away," Gauthier said.

Gauthier said that not only does the number of requests for help continue to grow, the cost of helping those in need is also rising.

Turkeys, which are placed in holiday baskets along with canned goods and grocery vouchers, are 15 cents to 20 cents per pound higher this year than last, he said. When you multiply that by the 1,000 baskets the Salvation Army will give away, that's a big increase.

Also for Christmas, the Salvation Army will give out 700 to 1,000 toys.

Those special Christmas programs are in addition to the programs the Salvation Army runs all year with funds raised during the holiday appeal. These include a food pantry, emergency shelter, utility assistance, rental assistance and helping with other needs.

The emergency shelter is serving one-fourth to one-third more people than last year, Gauthier said.

There also have been increases in food requests.

"Welfare reform has made many people go back to work, but they don't always earn enough to make ends meet," Gauthier said. Plus there are elderly people on fixed income who need a little extra food to get by, he said. Then there are the homeless, those down on their luck and the chronically unemployed.

Gauthier urges those who haven't contributed yet to participate in the kettle drive or the mail appeal.

The mail appeal is a campaign requesting donations from those people who have donated to the Salvation Army in the past.

"If people are planning to send in a donation, it would help if they would send it in now," Gauthier said.

Marchi said some people may not realize how much the Salvation Army does and how many people there are who need its help.

"The Salvation Army takes care of a niche of people that many might not think is out there," Marchi said. "Those who have three square meals a day, a roof over their heads and heating and air-conditioning may not realize there are people out there who have none of those. And they are in our community."

Donations can be sent to the Salvation Army, P.O. Box 802, Cape Girardeau 63702.

COIN FOR SALE

The Salvation Army is interested in selling a 1988 Olympic gold coin that was dropped into one of its kettles recently, said Maj. Robert Gauthier.

He said the value of the coin is estimated at $150 to $160. Anyone interested in buying the coin can call Gauthier at 335-7000.