Salvation Army asks for community support

If you visit any of the high-traffic areas in the county, chances are you’ve witnessed the return of the Ithaca Salvation Army’s red kettles, with volunteers happily ringing bells to attract donations. But you also may have noticed that there are far fewer kettles out this year than last, and that’s because the local Salvation Army is facing significant drops in holiday volunteers and donations.

Tompkins Weekly talked with the Salvation Army in Ithaca last year (t.ly/JdJf), and in 2020, it was also facing a volunteer shortage. Last year, it was easy to attribute that to health concerns, especially considering many volunteers were older and in vulnerable populations. But this year, Captain Stacy McNeil said, the reason isn’t as clear cut, and that shortage is severely impacting the number of kettles they can put out and how much money they’ve been able to raise.

“I’m not sure why we have a shortage in volunteers,” she said. “But I can tell you it’s more significant this year than it’s ever been. … Our volunteers throughout the year are fantastic. Our Christmas volunteers, unfortunately, I don’t know where they’re at. And hopefully they’re going to start ringing in soon. But last year, at this time, we were at about $27,000 raised. This year, we’re only at about $8,000, and our kettle goal is $100,000. … So, that’s really scary.”

Dr. Ted Bryant, owner of Clarity Eye Care in Ithaca and an avid Salvation Army volunteer, offered a possible explanation.

“People are contracting into their own world,” he said. “That’s what this pandemic has done. It’s put people into emergency survival mode, where everyone is super concerned about themselves and their own well-being. We’ve been taught that it’s OK, and beyond OK, we’re being taught that it’s necessary to limit interaction with other people.”

And these shortages are happening at the same time as Salvation Army is seeing a significant rise in demand for its services, as seen at Thanksgiving and in the current number of families signed up to receive Christmas assistance.

“For Thanksgiving, we had our highest number of meals served at 375,” McNeil said. “Pre-COVID, we probably did, on average, about 175, maybe 200, when they came in to eat and fellowship with one another. But the last few years, [with] us offering to-go, so families can enjoy Thanksgiving at home together — and they might just not have the food — we’ve increased to, this year, 375, which is massive amounts of food and turkey and mashed potatoes.”

It’s also a record year for the number of families signed up for Christmas assistance, at 265 as of last week. And that’s after 2020 was its own record-breaking year at around 250.

The Salvation Army also continues to work to help others in need, especially children and those experiencing homelessness. The Salvation Army recently brought on an outreach caseworker, who now works with the outreach coordinator going “boots on the ground” in homeless encampments and on city streets, McNeil said.

“We do have a new program called Homeless to House,” McNeil said. “There’s this challenge with people who have been … habitually homeless, and they finally get to a place where they’re ready for housing. But what does that look like for them? … So, we have a program where Steve, our outreach coordinator, will walk alongside them and be a coach, … so they can be successful in their housing. And so really, the homeless outreach is really one of our biggest focuses right now. Our goal is to open a homeless outreach center. And that’s a huge vision that we are working towards.”

Ithaca’s Salvation Army restarted its after-school programs this fall, helping to address what McNeil, Bryant and volunteer Rich Shaff described as a lack of socialization among children due to the pandemic, a problem only made worse as COVID-19 cases continue to affect schools. Dryden, for example, recently had to go remote for a week due to the high number of students in quarantine.

“Schools right now, I know, are facing a lot of challenges,” Bryant said. “There’s an unprecedented number of teachers who are deciding to leave the profession. So, unfortunately, … I think we’re going to miss the social part of it versus the education part of it. I think education can be delayed without too much detriment to the community, but it’s the socialization and all the things that come along with having to work together and co-exist in a classroom with teachers and other staff that’s becoming more [difficult].”

The Salvation Army’s red kettles are its biggest fundraising effort of the year, so if the nonprofit doesn’t reach its fundraising goal, it may have to cut back these and other services, McNeil said.

“It’s never been a reality for us,” she said. “We’ve never not reached our goal in any of the locations we’ve ever been in as Salvation Army officers. So, I don’t want to have to ever answer that question. And to be honest, I don’t have a good answer. … We don’t get state grants. We don’t get federal grants. All of our funding is based on donations and local grants that we receive. And so, we would definitely have to take a look at the services that we provide and the programs we provide and see how we can make it work with what we have.”

To help avoid that possibility, current volunteers are working hard to attract more volunteers and donations. And two volunteers have really stepped up.

Bryant and Shaff will work together Dec. 17 and 18 to do a 24-hour kettle drive at the Ithaca Walmart, with shifts from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. both days.

“Ted and I were sitting in the [board] meeting, and Ted goes, ‘You know, we should do something a little different for the Salvation Army. We should ring bells for 24 hours,’” Shaff said. “And I said, ‘Well, I’ll do it if you’ll do it.’ He goes, ‘OK, why don’t you ask Stacy?’ … It’ll be fun for us. And I hope we raise a ton of money and a lot of people stop by and just say hello with one hand and drop some money in the bucket with the other.”

Bryant and Shaff both share a passion for bell-ringing. As they explained, it’s about more than just the money.

“When I ring bells, the most heartening thing is when a parent gives a child the money to put in the kettle because that’s essential learning for community involvement, not only with the Salvation Army, but for the rest of their life, their adulthood,” Shaff said. “So, the money is real important, but also the community outreach and just the lesson of helping others is important, especially this time of year.”

And Bryant gets especially enthusiastic at his posts.

“When I go to bell-ring, I try to be the best bell-ringer that I can possibly be,” he said. “I take it really seriously. I always put music on. I’m a drummer, so I’m out there dancing and ringing the bell to the music and always interacting with people. And it feels good to be out there just smiling at people. … And people respond to that. So, not only are you raising money to help really impact the community in huge ways, but it brings joy to your life just to be able to interact with people and kind of brighten their day as well. So, it’s a win-win.”

Despite these challenges, McNeil said that the community has been continuously supportive throughout the pandemic, and no matter the hurdles, they will continue to serve that community.

“I want everyone to know how thankful we are of their support,” she said. “Especially within the last four years that [my husband] Shaun and I have been here, the community always steps up. And for that, I am incredibly in awe every year. And we’re not going anywhere. … We’re going to continue to serve anyone that walks through our door in one way or another.”

If any readers are interested in volunteering to be a bell-ringer or do other work for the Salvation Army, or simply interested in donating, visit the Ithaca location’s website at easternusa.salvationarmy.org/empire/ithaca or call (607) 273-2400.

Jessica Wickham is the managing editor of Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to them at editorial@vizellamedia.com.