The Salvation Army of Bloomington is celebrating a $130,000 increase in fundraising over the holiday season.
But the campaign fell close to $180,000 short of its target and left the social service agency pondering whether it will need to reduce services at the Safe Harbor shelter unless additional funding comes in.
The campaign set what Salvation Army Major Dan Leisher called a “shoot for the moon” goal of over $1 million that he said was necessary to handle increased demand for services and a loss of $140,000 in federal grant funding.
“We are able to achieve some great success. We got a little more pushing to do because we really need to meet our goal,” said Leisher, speaking at a campaign celebration Tuesday evening at the Salvation Army.
He indicated the agency needs to have the funding collected by the end of its fiscal year in September to avoid program reductions, saying, “I’m praying that we don’t have to and that there will be other dollars that come in.”
Leisher said the Salvation Army eliminated three part-time jobs over the holidays that handled employment services for clients at its Safe Harbor shelter. He said the nonprofit is exploring other reductions that may include reducing shelter hours on certain days after winter to save on personnel costs.
“We are trying to sustain, particularly Safe Harbor, because there is just a dire need for those services there," he said.
Safe Harbor remains full each night with 50 beds and an additional 28 beds at an emergency winter shelter, Leisher said, adding demand at its food pantry also increased 20% over the last year — and the shelter is seeing more new clients.
The annual Red Kettle bell ringer campaign supports Salvation Army programs and services throughout the year, including Pathway to Hope that offers resources to families of children 17 and under, including referrals for mental health checks, primary care, housing and transportation.
Katie Brooks, who has been a case manager for the last year, said her first group of clients includes a girl who recently earned her fork lifting certification and will be using her new skills at a job at Rivian.
“It’s just an amazing program and not a lot of folks know about Pathway to Hope that can help community members needing extra support,” Brooks said.
Leisher said he was encouraged to see an increase in the number of volunteers who helped out with this year’s campaign. The Salvation Army has 225 bell ringers that collected $160,000 in donations.
“We’ve had more volunteers than we’ve ever had. That was tremendous,” he said.
The Salvation Army awarded its top fundraisers:
- Individual: Chuck Feeney; $2,499,89
- Youth organizations: Linden Lead ‘Em 4-H Club; $849
- High schools: Normal Community; 4,292
- Churches: Eastview Christian: $617
- Service organizations and clubs: Cornbelt AMBUCS: $5,396
- Businesses: Integrity Solutions: $6,048
- Top overall: Bloomington Fire Department; $6,184.
The Salvation Army gave its David Penn Memorial Volunteer Award to College Park Christian Church. The Uke-aholics Ukulele Band passed its traveling trophy for the Scott Laughlin Spirit of Bell Ringing Award to Corpus Christi Catholic School. WJBC’s Scott Miller was honorary chair of the campaign.
