Gift Cards Help The Salvation Army Address Critical Needs this Holiday Season

$200,000 from Wal-Mart to be distributed among eight U.S. communities with great need this Christmas.

Photo courtesy: The Salvation Army

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Wal-Mart will lend a hand to The Salvation Army with one more holiday gift this season. Local Salvation Army corps in eight U.S. cities each received $25,000, for a total of $200,000, which will be presented by a local Wal-Mart store in each community.

The stores presented each corps with 500 gift cards, which The Salvation Army will then distribute to families and individuals in each area whose needs are especially critical.

“The Salvation Army does so much to help people in need here in Portland, and we are happy to be able to provide some additional financial help to people they serve whose needs have not been met,” said Lamar Cloy, store manager at the Wal-Mart store located at 4200 Southeast 82nd Avenue.

“We are seeing more than a 100 percent increase in the number of families requesting assistance this year. And unfortunately, we are simultaneously experiencing a severe food shortage in our food pantries,” said Linnea Miller of the Salvation Army Portland Metro Division. “This gift from Wal-Mart will enable us to provide immediate assistance to people who need it the most.”

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The eight communities were identified by The Salvation Army as areas where need is far greater than available resources. Gift cards will be presented to individuals and families in the following cities:

• Anchorage, Alaska
• Benton Harbor, Michigan
• Detroit, Michigan
• Camden, New Jersey
• Ashland, Ohio
• Portland, Oregon
• Knoxville, Tennessee
• Moundsville, West Virginia

For more than 20 years, Wal-Mart has supported The Salvation Army through financial assistance and by allowing the familiar red kettles and bell-ringers in front of Wal-Mart stores and Sam’s Clubs during the holiday season. Last year, approximately $30 million was raised through donations made in kettles in front of these stores and clubs, accounting for almost 25 percent of all donations raised during the Red Kettle Campaign.