The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

A NUMBER OF local charities are seeing a drop in donations compared with last year as people are unable to give due to the country’s economic state.

While COVID-19 has dealt a blow to people’s pockets the Salvation Army said it also had a challenge rolling out their annual Christmas Kettles, according to the Divisional Commander Major Clarence Ingram.

“What we’re having a challenge with is we started (our) Christmas Kettles later because of COVID-19. So normally we would start around the 20th of November. This year we started the 1st of December and the last numberts we had were about $10,000 less than we had last year but you know we’ll see how things go this week.”

He added: “We recognise that the economy being what it is not as many people can support as they would’ve or as strongly as they would’ve in previous years. So, we recognise that this is a difficult time and people are sharing as best they can with their neighbour...we do the best we can with what we receive.”

Bishop Walter Hanchell, chairman of Great Commission Ministries, noted donations are down about 15-20 percent compared to the previous year and appealed to the public to give.

He said: “There are a lot of persons now that are losing their homes ….Extra funds are needed just to accommodate them either into one of our shelters or into a hotel but there are a lot of people on the streets and we have to take steps to make sure that they find a bed to sleep in and have a warm bed and a hot meal.

“The Lord is faithful and trying to do the best that we could but we do need more help and I want to recommend that all of those who could, speaking about businesses and some churches and some individuals who are in a position to assist, that they would stop by Great Commission and make a donation and not just for the Christmas holiday but we like for some folks to make a monthly donation of whatever amount.”