The air is cooling as the winter holiday season draws near, marking another year kicking off the annual Kettle Campaign for the North Bay Salvation Army. Musicians played on the corner of Main Street and Wyld as they officially kicked off their holiday fundraiser on Friday.
“It’s been going on for over a hundred years in North Bay and over a half-century around the world,” John Dobbs, director of program services said. “Tomorrow morning the first kettles go out at 10 a.m. until December 24 in most places.”
Kettles will be found in grocery stores, LCBOs, and other locations frequented by members of the community, watched by volunteers for the holidays. He said these fundraisers provide them with the funds to support their holiday programs for those in need.
“These supply the funding which allows us to do our food bank program, school lunches for children and much more,” he said. “Our goal this year is $130,000—and last year we did $124,000. So we’ve increased our goal a little bit, but the demand for our services has increased too. However, North Bay, like many cities, is very generous.”
Dobbs said it was important to note their fundraising efforts had a direct effect on North Bay, with funds raised staying within the area, even if online donations were given. He said, however, fundraisers has relatively plateaued due to people not carrying as much change anymore, instead having debit and credit cards.
“I know when places started getting the tap and go, I stopped carrying change,” he said, reference the PayPass option on debit machines. “For a couple of years now we’re been looking at electronic kettles in direct response.”
Next year, people will have the option for the electronic kettle, which can use debit/credit cards, or the classic kettles people are so familiar with.
He said they planned on having them this year, but circumstances have caused them to wait until the holiday of 2017. He also said there are other ways for people to help, donating online, volunteering or dropping off supplies instead.
