October 2008

Let us do your Christmas shopping for you!
Honor a friend at Christmas.

Click here to download the holiday card order form.

Mark Your Calendar for These Important Dates

November 7 – Corporate Angel Information Session
November 21 – Angel Tree Mall Opening
November 22 – Red Kettle Campaign Kick Off
December 3, 11:30 a.m. – Women's Auxiliary Christmas Brunch

Christmas Through a Mother's Eyes

Christmas is generally a time of love and laughter. Many children circle December 25 on their calendars months in advance, anxiously waiting a joyous, plentiful holiday season. However, thousands of children in the Memphis area are not so lucky. For these children, Christmas is not a happy holiday, and presents piled under a brightly-colored Christmas tree is only something that happens in fairy-tales.

The Salvation Army is dedicated to turning fairy-tales into realities. One of The Salvation Army's most rewarding programs, Angel Tree, provides clothes, toys and other necessities to children and seniors who otherwise would have a very bare Christmas. For Tricia Williams, The Salvation Army Angel Tree program was the ultimate Christmas blessing… more

Doing the Most Good…From the Comfort of Your Own Home!

Ring Ring Ring! The bells of The Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign are one of the most recognized icons of the Christmas season. Less familiar is the Online Red Kettle program, which provides a convenient way for people to donate both time and money to The Salvation Army that is just as valuable as dropping money into the traditional Red Kettle.

The Online Red Kettle uses the power of the Internet to complement the traditional bell-ringing Christmas campaign. What is an Online Red Kettle? Quite simply, it is a personal or company Red Kettle that virtually sits on your Web page instead of physically sitting in front of a store. Now you can easily support The Salvation Army from the comfort of your own home. The Online Red Kettle guarantees a safe and secure way to enter donations; can be set up on any personal Web site, Facebook or MySpace page; and also protects personal information from Web-generated spam messages. Online Red Kettle is a great way for businesses, organizations, churches and civic groups to get involved this Christmas season.

While the number of those in need remains high, individual donations are down by 11 percent this year due to the economic downturn. Will you support the Online Red Kettles? To learn more, visit www.salvationarmymemphis.org. The Online Red Kettle will start this year on October 30.

Volunteers –
the Heart and Soul of the Army

The Salvation Army is hard at work 365 days a year, providing help and hope to those who need it most. At Christmas time we go into overdrive with the Angel Tree program and Red Kettle Campaign. Both programs demand thousands of hours of manpower and rely heavily upon volunteers.

"Volunteers are the army behind The Army, allowing us to increase services during the Christmas season," said Major Mark Woodcock, area commander of The Salvation Army. "Volunteer opportunities are available all year and are particularly abundant during the holiday season." To volunteer at Christmas, go to www.salvationarmymemphis.org or call Cherita Hopper at (901) 260-9120.

Click here to download the Christmas volunteer form.

Salvation Army Provides Light in the Midst of a Storm

Hurricanes Gustav and Ike disrupted the lives of thousands of people along the Louisiana and Texas coasts. In the aftermath of Gustav's torrential attack, Salvation Army officer Lt. Jason Burns and three volunteers from Memphis's First Evangelical Church – Charlie Martin, Mark McKenzie and Ken Meador – deployed with a Salvation Army Disaster Recovery Unit (canteen) to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The disaster relief unit served food and provided spiritual comfort to evacuees, volunteers and other emergency response workers in Louisiana. After Ike's landfall in Texas, the Memphis canteen moved to Beaumont, Texas, where it remains in service.

At home in Memphis during Gustav, The Salvation Army was busy providing meals, drinks and snacks to the workers at the Emergency Operations Center on Avery, to the evacuees at the Amtrak Station when they arrived and departed Memphis, and to evacuee shelters in DeSoto County.

"The Salvation Army is on the front line whenever there is a disaster," said Lt. Burns. "It is not possible to do this without the support of organizations like First Evangelical Church, and other organizations in Memphis."

Organizations interested in becoming a disaster recovery partner with The Salvation Army can contact Major Mark Woodcock at (901) 543-8586.

Changes to Pension Protection Act

On Friday, October 3, Congress approved and the President signed legislation that includes the immediate and retroactive extension of the popular Pension Protection Act of 2006 provision which allows taxpayers over 70½ to make tax-free distributions from their traditional and Roth IRAs (Individual Retirement Accounts) directly to The Salvation Army and other charities in 2008 and 2009.

For more information on how to take advantage of this important opportunity, call your financial advisor and/or IRA plan administrator. For information on supporting The Salvation Army with your financial gifts, contact Elizabeth Duncan, Director of Development, at (901) 260-9130.

$CONFIG(sitename)$
$CONFIG(siteurl)$
$CONFIG(address)$
$CONFIG(city)$, $CONFIG(state)$ $CONFIG(zip)$
$CONFIG(country)$

If you do not wish to receive this message please remove $email$

Let us do your Christmas shopping for you! Honor a friend at Christmas.