Salvation Army feeds 600

It just wouldn’t be Christmas without the Salvation Army’s annual Christmas party and this year the community opened its heart…and purse…even wider than usual.

Jacqueline Woods, Reporting

Close to six hundred children from across the city crowded the Holy Redeemer Parish Hall as special guests of the Salvation Army. The boys and girls received a Christmas dinner and gifts as part of the Army’s annual holiday treat.

Alberto Young, Chairman, Advisory Board, Salvation Army

“There are many people who don’t have the traditional turkey dinner to have with their family and a gift from a loved one. This is just a way for us to reach out to those who may be forgotten around this special Christmas time.”

The annual event is heavily supported by various businesses and friends of the Salvation Army. However, this year when there was a strong possibility that the children would not be receiving any toys at the dinner due to a delay in shipment, one establishment came through in a big way.

Alberto Young

“Like a blessing in the disguise this year, Shell Belize Ltd. donated five thousand dollars towards this cause. Without their help we wouldn’t have toys today. The majority of the toys were bought with the funds that they gave us.”

Shell Belize Limited donated five thousand dollars.

Joe Habet, Financial Controller, Shell Belize Limited

“Well what happen we got several requests for donations from many companies. One of the donations we were interested in was the Salvation Army. We invited Mr. Young to come in to our office and sit with us an explain what they need the money for. At that time, all of the previous requests we got from him, he said something else came up, we had this emergency, we are expecting toys from the U.S., the shipment will arrive after Christmas and we couldn’t postpone Christmas, so he asked us to help in this cause and we did.”

The Salvation Army also received donations from smaller organizations who held fund raising drives for the occasion. Brian Plummer a teacher of Gwen Lizarraga High and some friends held a ride-a-thon.

Brian Plummer, Teacher, Gwen Lizarraga High School

“Well, the motto of the school is “I came, I gave, I received, I’ll give back,” and we thought this was a good way to lead by example, to show the students how to give back. We chose Salvation Army because during this time, they are very active , they’re the most active organisation around this time of the year.”

Reporting for News Five I am Jacqueline Woods.