Salvation Army official says about 700 received aid

CLOVIS — Santa Claus was not the only one bringing gifts to Clovis this holiday season.

This year the Salvation Army Clovis Corps once again provided assistance to hundreds of area residents who were struggling to meet their family’s holiday needs.

“We were able to help about 700 people for Christmas with toys, food and whatever other assistance we were able to give,” Salvation Army Corps Officer Lt. Kelly Berggren said. “We usually try to cap our families at around 175 and I know we were just about there this year.”

Berggren said close to $4,000 was raised through the Empty Stocking Fund, an annual joint venture between the Salvation Army and The News to help provide items like toys, food and clothing to low-income families during the holidays by profiling their stories in the newspaper.

“With that we were able to purchase ham for all the families that signed up, toys, and we also were able to help a family that needed to get their vehicle repaired and we helped a military family with a lot of toys,” Berggren said.

Berggren said the $4,000 collected was “about $1,000 over what we did last year if I remember correctly,” but The News’ records show the improvement was even greater, reporting last year that $2,000 was raised through the fund.

Berggren said the organization’s biggest fundraiser, the bell-ringing red kettle campaign, brought in close to $62,000, about the same as last year, which he was happy with because many Salvation Army locations across the country struggled to collect as much as past years.

“I saw nationally our kettles were down about 20 percent this year with people shopping online or not carrying cash and whatnot, so we did really well to match last year’s numbers,” Berggren said.

Salvation Army also collected about 700 toys through the angel tree tags set up at three local businesses.

“Toys we did great, we had all kinds of toys for the kids this year,” Berggren said.

Berggren said that he feels blessed to be able to personally help these families, but it would not be possible without the support of others in the community.

“This is our fourth season in Clovis and Clovis always comes through,” Berggren said. “It might be last minute but the generosity is always there for people that for whatever circumstance can’t bring Christmas to their children.”