Lumina Foundation supports Coats for Kids

Their $500 donation will help us give kids in need coats, hats and gloves before the snowflakes fly! And there’s still time for you to help, too.

• If you’re a parent, please check your closets at home for gently used coats that your kids no longer need. And please encourage your friends and family to do the same. You can drop off coat donations at any Tuchman Cleaners.
• Make a secure donation on-line here.
• Volunteer to set-up for Coats for Kids by calling Elizabeth at 224-1010. It takes an organized team to distribute thousands of coats.

Hoosiers have never let their neighbors in need down. We’re counting on our community to come out in full force to make sure that no kid goes without a coat this winter. And thanks again to the Lumina Foundation for supporting Bob Gregory’s Coats for Kids campaign!

Salvation Army – doing more, with less

A new report from The Chronicle of Philanthropy shows that donations to the nation’s biggest charities dropped 11 percent last year – the worst decline in the publication’s two decades of Philanthropy 400 rankings. And among the ten charities that raised the most last year, six of them reported declines in giving. Giving to United Way Worldwide (no. 1) decreased by 4.5 percent and to The Salvation Army USA (no. 2) by 8.4 percent…and these were the smallest declines among the top-ranking groups.

Locally, our donations were down nearly $300,000 for 2009-10. That’s about 10 percent of last year’s Christmas fundraising goal! Ironically, we’ve seen a spike in requests for financial assistance for rent and utilities and for food. In fact, we’ve served about 4,000 more of our neighbors in need in spite of bringing in less funds. How’d we do it? Read more

Kroger scoops up chance to support Apple Fest

With just a few weeks to go until Apple Fest, we were still missing a key ingredient – ice cream for our GFS Marketplace apple cobbler. Thanks to our friends at Kroger, we’ll be serving it up a la mode!

Just yesterday, we reached out to Kroger, and like their slogan, we could count on them to come through for us. This isn’t a small act of kindness. We’re anticipating a great crowd this year, so we’re talking about 1,000 or so scoops of ice cream. So, a big thanks to Kroger for stepping up to help us raise funds for our Homelessness Bites campaign that supports our Women’s and Children’s Shelter here in Indianapolis.

And don’t forget to grab lunch with your dessert….Applebee’s will be serving up roast beef or freshly grilled chicken sandwiches and chips on the side for just $5! Stop by the Ricker’s pop trailer and grab a soft drink for just $1. Thanks to our generous partners, all the proceeds from this event will help us provide shelter, life skills classes and support for women and kids who are homeless due to financial hardships or abuse. What a great motivation to ‘Eat in the Street’ on Thursday, October 7!

We’ll have plenty of booths to stop by including Adrian Orchards, Two Men and a Truck, Indiana Pacers Fan Van and more. Live music will be provided by Band Wagon. And don’t forget that coat for Coats for Kids – we’ll give you a FREE apple cobbler as your sweet reward!

We still have booth space available for just $50 or join us as a participating sponsor at our table displays for just $75. Call Kristen at 224-1019 to join us! And to learn more about how you can help us Bite Back, go to HomelessnessBites.org.

Emmis signs on for Apple Fest

It’s a perfect fit since we’re planning to “Eat in the Street for homeless kids” right in their front yard on Monument Circle! All four Emmis stations – WIBC 93.1fm, B105.7fm, Hank 97.1fm and ESPN 1070 The Fan will be teaming up with us to spread the word about this lunchtime event on Thursday, October 7.

Mark your calendar to join us for freshly grilled food and warm apple cobbler. There’s lots to see and do at this event, so stay tuned for the details. And go here to find out how you can get involved this summer even before the first lunch-goer is served.

Interested in participating in the event as a booth sponsor? Call Kristen at 224-1019.

Our partners, our champions

Reaching out to our neighbors in need takes a team effort – from businesses, our volunteers, our staff, our community. On Wednesday night, we paused to take a few hours to honor some of our team, our champions, who have really gone above and beyond to make a difference in our city. All of our partners play a vital role in how we reach out to those in need, so it was difficult to choose just two to honor, but that was the plan. So, our deepest thanks and congratulations to Reach USA/ValPak and Two Men and a Truck for your work in 2009.

Reach USA/ValPak and Jim Brantley – We honored them for helping us get the word out. In our efforts to use our donor support to do the most good, The Salvation Army uses less than 1/2% of our budget to advertise and market our organization and services. Reach USA/ValPak works with us to get the most out of those dollars, offering reduced rate and sometimes even free space in their publications. And in 2009, Reach USA/ValPak was our WIBC Radiothon Phone Bank sponsor – donating their dollars and their employees’ time answering phones and helping out at Emmis. Jim offers his time and talent serving on our Advisory Board and Development Committee as well. Thanks, Reach USA/ValPak!

Two Men and a Truck and Drew Werling – We honored Two Men for all of the support their offer by transporting coat and toy donations during our annual Coats for Kids and WISHTree/Angel Tree collection drives. That’s no small task to pick up thousands of coats and toys from locations all over the city and get them efficiently to us to distribute to thousands of families in need. Two Men is also a title sponsor of our Homelessness Bites campaign for homeless and abused women and children. Drew believed in us when the campaign started and has supported us every step of the way. And we can’t forget the dozens of boxes they’ve donated to ship Operation Compassion care packages to our troops serving overseas. Thanks, Two Men!

And finally, a special thanks to our Advisory Board Chair, Diane Nichols (Perkins Nichols Media) for her tireless efforts to promote the brand and cause of The Salvation Army.

We are so appreciative that we could share the evening with friends from Kroger, WISH TV-8, the Northwest Indianapolis Kiwanis and Tuchman Cleaners as well. Thanks for taking the time to see how your support changes lives.

If you’d like to partner with The Salvation Army, give Kristen a call at 224-1019.

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