Prince George Salvation Army Captain Neil Wilkinson is at a loss to understand why his organization's Christmas fundraising drive has come up so short this year.
"It's inexplicable," he said of the shortfall of close to $50,000 in the kettle campaign. "I'm not 100 per cent sure what's going on."
The Salvation Army had a tougher time than usual finding volunteers to staff the kettles and the funds that came in were well under the $250,000 target the group had set before the campaign. When combined with only about $25,000 coming in to the Tree of Lights campaign, which had a $60,000 goal, it could lead to a lean year for the charity.
"It was a steep, steep drop-off this year," Wilkinson said, noting last year the group slightly exceeded its fundraising goals.
The drop in donations isn't something unique to Prince George, Wilkinson said he was speaking to some of his colleagues in Vancouver who are reporting the same thing.
The Salvation Army helps to provide food for about 600 to 800 families in Prince George every month and the group now must find a way to continue the service with fewer funds.
While his goal is to keep the core services intact, Wilkinson said it could be more difficult to operate other programs like the personal development plan which aims help people become financially independent. That program not only helps people get back on their feet, it also reduces people's dependency on the food bank.
"It's almost like inflation, every year we average two to three per cent more people accessing the food bank," Wilkinson said. "We can't sustain that type of growth - certainly not at the current donation rate."
If the group has to cut back on programs to help people break the cycle of poverty, it will make it more difficult to deliver even basic programing in the future.
In past years donations have continued to trickle into the Salavation Army after the Christmas season officially wrapped up and Wilkinson is hoping the same thing will happen again this year, but with such a large shortfall he's hoping a big player or two will step in with a large donation.
"I've been talking to the boss, God, and been asking for a $50,000 cheque," he said, but added two $25,000 would do just as well.
