Salvation Army To Community: 'Be A Shield'

Salvation Army is hoping to ramp up their levels of food donations by focusing on, and asking members of the community to, “Be A Shield.”

“We’re asking people to be a shield against hunger, to basically shield our community, shield the less fortunate, shield the folks that are having a tough time right now, to shield them from hunger and poverty and hard times by doing something to support their help,” said Jonathan Harvey, Captain.

The campaign seems simple enough. The Christian-based nonprofit organization hopes it will get people in the spirit of helping their community by encouraging its members to be their brother’s keeper. The idea of the shield also represents the iconic red shields within Salvation Army's logo.

This time of year, coming out of the summer months but right before the holiday season kicks off, donations can be a bit sluggish.

“We see such an increase for a demand for service, and then there’s a sort of decline in contributions, so that leads us to a point where we generally do get low, but this year’s a rough one,” said Harvey.

Harvey said tough economic times can often make donations tougher to come by. New reports in the media show that approximately 15% of Americans are living below the poverty line. That often means more people needing help while less help may be available.

“The economy affects what we receive, as far as donations, from food donation to financial contributions,” he said. “So there certainly is a ripple effect of the economy of, really, every element of what we do.”

Harvey said the main idea of the campaign is to engage the community with the challenge of helping others in need. In this way the Salvation Army hopes to create a ripple effect of their own; where one decides to partake in the campaign, they can also encourage others to “Be A Shield.”

“We’re really, quite frankly, asking the community to get creative and to think of new creative ways that they can support the work that we provide and the work that we do in new and different ways,” said Harvey. “And that can be as simple as doing something and posting it on Facebook, and saying I’m a shield and challenging friends and family to do the same.”

Food donations can be made at the Kroc Center’s Welcome Center at 278 Sunset Ave.

Donations can include: Soup; baby food; canned fruit; beans; cereal; boxed dinners; peanut butter; pancake mix; dry pasta; canned meat; canned vegetables.

For more information on the “Be A Shield” campaign, call the Kroc Center at 707-439-7880.