Havre Salvation Army donations drop in 2023

Havre Salvation Army brought in significantly less in donations in 2023 than previous years, even as needs continue to become more significant, and will need to cut back on services as a result.

Havre Salvation Army Director Trina Crawford said she and her organization are always appreciative of every donation they get, but they are almost $10,000 behind their $38,000 goal for last year’s Red Kettle Campaign, their largest fundraiser of the year, and that means they can’t do as much this year.

“We’re not going to be able to help people as much as we did last year even,” Crawford said.

She said they had to raise their funding goal in 2023 due to rising rent prices, COVID-19 relief funds going away and a lot of people still economically recovering from a difficult time.

“It’s crazy how much need there is out there right now,” she said.

As an example of how the cutback will affect things, she said, normally their organization will provide about a third of what a person needs if they are behind on rent, but that will likely be a quarter this year instead.

She also said they have a cap on how much they can provide to a single person, and that number will have to come down as well.

Crawford said they will likely have to make more referrals to other community organizations when they can’t cover what a person needs as well, which means they will have to rely on fellow service organizations more.

However, she said, because they are a non-profit, they can always accept donations throughout the year, and she is going to try to make more appeals to the community to try to make up as much of the difference as possible.

“It’s not said and done just yet,” she said.

As for the coming year, she said, she’s going to try to get the ball rolling on getting bell ringers for the next Red Kettle Campaign signed up early.

She said when bell ringers are out in the community they get far more donations, and she suspects they are going to need more if they are going to make their goal next year.

She said they are always happy to hear from anyone interested, even if they only have an hour on one day, any amount of time will help them bring in more.

Crawford said 2023 was the lowest donation year they’ve seen since the pandemic began, and $5,000 less than last year, while the needs are only growing, so they need to do what they can to get as much community engagement as possible.

In that vein, she said, the organization’s advisory committee is setting up events throughout the year, including a bingo and chili cookoff event in April to raise more money.

She said they are also going to do their back-to-school event in August, and they are hoping to work with Havre Food Bank in March to provide Easter food baskets, but that is not a sure thing yet.