Donations surge as Guelph’s Christmas Kettle campaign nears its end for 2024

Just days remain in the Guelph Salvation Army's Christmas Kettle campaign. Over $290,000 has been raised as the Christmas Eve deadline approaches.

The Guelph, Ont., community’s generosity continues to be on display as it supports the Christmas Kettle campaign.

The Salvation Army has seen an influx of donations in the last few weeks, meaning that the red kettle bells have kept ringing throughout shopping malls and grocery stores.

Pastor Major Peter Van Duinen said they’ve seen a great response from the community since the Canada Post strike.

“We have had people stopping by our church on Gordon Street to drop off what they normally would have mailed in, throughout our mail campaign, dropping it right off at the church putting it in our kettles,” Van Duinen said.

He said others have pivoted and made their donation online or by phone.

Canada Post workers were back on the job as of Tuesday, however Van Duinen said he’s “not 100-per cent sure” of that they’ve seen the impact on the non-profit’s mail delivery campaign yet.

He said if you did place a donation in the mail immediately before the strike, it’ll get processed and sorted and is confident they’ll see an uptick in them.

As it stands, the local chapter has generated $292,000 of their $425,000 fundraising goal.