A time to shine for Salvation Army
Dec. 8—The holiday season is the best time of the year.
Or is it?
While most of us gather with families to share presents and the holiday spirit, many are not so lucky.
That's where everybody can step up to help the needy at this special time. One place where they always are stepping up is the Salvation Army.
Capt. Kate Esker was busy at work Tuesday afternoon sorting though toys and packages to distribute to needy families. And down the street at Miller's grocery store, Ron Ingersoll was manning the red kettle.
He was inside so he wasn't ringing his bell, but he was still there collecting funds to help out others.
Ingersoll said he was retired for 12 years and decided it was time to get involved. He has been watching over the red kettle the last three years and he does it three or four times a week.
The kettles are out around Norwalk Tuesday through Saturday, with volunteers taking Sunday and Monday off.
Esker would love to have two days off a week. At this time of the year, she hardly has the time to sit down and catch her breath.
"I don't know if it is a problem, but the wait list is so long right now," she said.
Esker said everybody will be taken care of.
"I filled my quota of what I would like which is about 200 families before November started," she said. "I have a waiting list which I should be able to fill. The waiting list will have to wait a few days until I transition from what I have going right now."
Esker said donations come from everywhere.
"A lot of businesses will put out cards with names and people will fill those," she said. "We go around and pick up the packages."
"Last year we did the drive-up and we are keeping it that way."
Package pick-up is Dec. 16.
How has COVID affected the demand?
"I don't think we so this much last year maybe because people had extra money," she said. "I am hearing from people now I have never heard from before. We have a lot of regulars.
"And there are a lot of new babies, post-COVID. I think the biggest family I have is six kids, all under like 10. It is what it is."
While Esker is in the gym taking care of the children, "Deb in the office is doing all of our senior boxes and I think she is about 200. And we deliver those so they don't have to come out," Esker said.
Volunteers will come on Monday to start the big final push.
As all of that is going on, Capt. John Esker handles the kettles, which are located at Miller's, IGA, Walmart, Rural King and Big Lots.
"Last Saturday we had groups at every site to give our volunteers a break," Kate Esker said. "We have churches do it. Our advisory board stands. We have the Lions Club, Kiwanis Club ... Christie Lane is good. Or we just have random families who like to stand for a couple of hours."
If you would like to volunteer some time, you can call the Salvation Army at 419-668-4090.
Joe Centers is Reflector managing editor. He can be reached at jcenters@norwalkreflector.com.
