Sarnia's Salvation Army is looking to "tap into" new technology for its annual Red Kettle Campaign this holiday season.
The local initiative, which launched Friday, is starting with five kettles around the city: Canadian Tire, Wal-Mart, Northgate Metro, Superstore, and Lambton Mall -- the Sarnia shopping centre also features the organization's Giving Tree for donations of new and unused toys, over by Dollarama.
Salvation Army Lieutenant Brad Webster said they'll be using tiptap machines for this year's campaign as a way to promote contactless donations.
"They'll be rolling out just after the end of this month, and people will be able to go out and just tap at a predetermined amount on the kettle -- I believe it's $5, $10 and $20 -- and you'll automatically receive a tax receipt from your carrier."
Webster said this year's goal is $140,000 -- the campaign surpassed last year's goal of $139,000, raising $164,745.
"[And that] was absolutely amazing, we just blew by the goal, and it really helped us out this year, going into the COVID season."
Webster said because of the pandemic, the need this year is even greater.
He said starting back in March when everything began to close down, their food bank saw a lot of new faces.
"So we've seen our access to the food bank had actually risen, we've been open throughout this whole thing. Our numbers have gone up -- I can't tell you exactly how much, but we've seen numerous families, new families, that normally wouldn't be here, that typically wouldn't come in," said Webster. "And we hear the stories every day of them speaking and saying 'we never thought we'd be at your doorstep.'"
Webster added that there is also a greater need for volunteers this year.
"The volunteers right now would be booking a two-hour shift on the kettle, and know that we have our kettles placed in locations at the stores, we're working with our community partners to make sure that the kettles are away from public access. So there is that distancing part."
Anyone interested in volunteering can call Christmas Kettle Coordinator Brenda Dunn at 548-997-0750.
Webster said they're also still signing people up and accepting donations for its Christmas Hamper Campaign. For more information, click here.