TREE OF LIGHTS CAMPAIGN WITHIN $3,500 OF GOAL

After months of anticipation, the Salvation Army's Tree of Lights campaign is oh-so-close to it's $100,000 goal.

With just two days remaining in the campaign, $3,500 needs to be collected for it to be considered a success.

"Right now we're at $96,500" Capt. Elmer Trapp of the Salvation Army said Sunday. "We're confident we can reach our goal with donations that may have been mailed this weekend."

This year's goal is $15,000 more than last year, and in a year of economic decline, represented a huge challenge to the community, he said.

"The community responded to that challenge," Trapp said. "They really came through for us."

Trapp said the organization will announce later this week if the goal has been met.

"We're going to celebrate," Trapp said. "This is an awesome amount of money. It really represents a new era in fund-raising for the Salvation Army."

The campaign originally was scheduled to end Christmas Eve, but was extended through Dec. 31. About two-thirds of total donations are received through direct mail appeals, and Trapp said donations still are being mailed in.

The remaining donations are collected at kettles outside local retail stores. The kettles were discontinued Christmas Eve.

If the $100,000 goal is met, the campaign will have raised 23 percent more than last year. Trapp said the $100,000 goal was Campaign Chairman Bob Neff's idea, and corresponds with the 100th anniversary of the familiar Salvation Army kettles.

"It was a big challenge," Trapp said, "but we never thought of it in terms of percentages. I think a lot of the success of the campaign can be attributed to the leadership of Bob Neff. He worked very hard."

The money will pay for food, clothing, rental assistance, emergency lodging, utility assistance and other emergency essentials for needy people in Cape Girardeau throughout 1992.

The Salvation Army distributes thousands of food baskets to the needy during the Christmas holiday, and at Thanksgiving, hosts a free Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings.

Trapp said that although donations were slow during most of the campaign, cold weather during the past week or so has probably helped.

"As the temperatures started to drop, the giving intensified," he said. "People began to think more about the needs of others."

Trapp said donations at the kettles also increased on Christmas Eve.