Thank you for Caring Enough to
Make a Difference

Our Christmas season has truly been a blessing in 2009. Despite a difficult economy, the Memphis community once again opened its heart to help those who are hurting. Your generosity allowed us to provide services to 11,361 people during the Christmas season.

A Record Breaking Red Kettle Campaign

When we set a goal of $400,000 for our Red Kettle Campaign, we thought it would be tough to reach it. We were overwhelmed when not only did we reach our goal three days early, but we smashed it. The 2009 Red Kettle Campaign raised a phenomenal $457,178.90.

The Salvation Army is extremely grateful for the extraordinary support of our Red Kettle media partner, News Channel 3. Not only did the news team provide daily coverage on the Red Kettle numbers, but they ran a weekly story about different people in our shelters. If you missed any of their stories about The Salvation Army, please visit www.wreg.com and search Salvation Army. We would especially like to thank Tim Simpson for being a passionate spokesperson for our campaign and his willingness to stand out in the cold all day for News Channel 3’s Day of Ringing.

It takes an army of volunteers to make the Red Kettle Campaign successful, and we appreciate every single one of the 729 volunteers who gave up their Saturdays to bell-ring. We hope you enjoyed the experience and hope you will join us again in 2010.

Simply saying ‘thank you’ does not seem to cover the gratitude that we feel for your support for this program. Because of you, we are able to continue sheltering the homeless and feeding the hungry 365 days a year. Your contribution touches the life of every single person who walks through our door.

You Are the Real Angels

Every year, The Salvation Army Angel Tree program relies on the community’s support to be successful. Once again your support in 2009 was an amazing testament about the community we live in. Thanks to you, the Christmas wishes of 8,275 children, seniors and mothers, came true. This is an increase of 720 people from 2008.

The Christmas dream of a shiny new bicycle became a reality for 1,798 children, thanks in part to the Cellular South Ben’s Bikes program, a partnership between WREC 600 radio personality Ben Ferguson and Cellular South.

The Salvation Army is particularly grateful to our sponsors who provide financial underwriting for the program: AutoZone, International Paper, FedEx, Flextronics, Valero, Technicolor by Thomson, Cellular South and The Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary.

A special thanks goes to the Angel Tree media partners who provide invaluable support in sharing the Angel Tree story and generating community support for the program. Once again News Channel 3 kept the Angel Tree program in the hearts and minds of the community with daily updates and stories about the program. We are very grateful to Angel Tree spokespeople Marybeth Conley and Alex Coleman who were focused on Angel Tree throughout the program. We are also extremely grateful to WREC 600 and Rock 103 for their ongoing support, passion for this program and continual coverage of Angel Tree.

The Angel Tree program is possible because our mall partners Carrefour at Kirby Woods, Oak Court Mall and Wolfchase Galleria donate space for the official angel trees.

A special thank you goes to ProLogis who donated the 200,000 square foot warehouse that served as our Christmas Center.

Angel Tree requires a great deal of coordination and is possible because of our amazing volunteers who help at phone bank, client screening, working the Angel Tree tables at the malls, adopting and purchasing gifts for the angels and sorting and distributing the gifts. The 2009 statistics are amazing - 6,332 volunteers gave 20,412 hours of service. Thank you for your generosity and for helping make Christmas special for those we serve.

Photo:
Michael Thompson, Jr.