The Salvation Army Caring Place will be dusting off their red kettles and bells to celebrate Christmas in July throughout Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows.
Christmas in July is a time of year that has been celebrated by retail outlets for some time now, and only recently has The Salvation Army begun to follow suit.
The purpose of this event is the raise money for the Community Meal Program, which provides three meals a day, 365 days a year and serves more than 110,000 meals annually.
“We want to highlight that there’s a need to run our Community Meal Program all year round,” said Darrell Pilgrim, The Caring Place director. “We serve meals all year round. The bulk of the funds come at Christmastime, but the need is ongoing.”
By raising funds in the middle of the year, The Caring Place hopes to help supplement the deficit that isn’t covered by traditional red kettle income.
Christmas in July kettles will be out for two days this month, and The Caring Place needs volunteers to help man those kettles. Shifts are two hours long at any of the 7 locations around town.
This year, The Caring Place in Maple Ridge will be setting up their red kettles at Save-On Foods on Friday, July 20 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., and Valley Fair Mall (London Drugs entrance), Zeller’s, Canadian Tire, Superstore and Extra Foods on Saturday, July 21 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.