It’s busy season at the Salvation Army.
Every room is filled with donations of toys and food and every 25 minutes of every day this week, a different parent will come through the doors to pick out toys to wrap and put under the tree for their kids, and the food they need for Christmas dinner.
Both the generosity and the needs of the Collingwood community crossover inside the church and foodbank building on the corner of Ste. Marie and Ontario Street.
On Tuesday morning, Dec. 10, a line of people from the OPP, OPP Auxiliary, Reliabuild, Collingwood Optimist Club and Century 21 spaced an arms-length apart passed 720 toys from two jam-packed Reliabuild trucks on the curb into waiting skid-sized boxes inside the Salvation Army, like an old-fashioned bucket brigade.
It’s the fifth year that Reliabuild owners Cliff and Terri Hollinshead have coordinated the annual toy drive. Terri does much of the shopping for it through the year, and toys stay in the couple’s garage until they are delivered to the Salvation Army.
Inside the building, the volunteer corps sort them out and arrange them in a dining hall that doubles as a free shopping centre during Christmas Hamper distribution week.
More than 200 families (about 50 kids per day) will be getting a Christmas Hamper from the Salvation Army in Collingwood this week.
Tuesday is also the day that Shane, a retired firefighter, visits five local grocery stores to pick up the brown paper bags packed with food donations purchased by the grocery store customers to be donated to the food bank.
On Dec. 10, his collections required two separate trips and an assistant.
The paper bags full of food get dropped in the sorting area at the back of the building, where other volunteers unpack the food, record it through Feed Ontario, and then pack it into crates in a back room arranged by expiration date.
The food bank area gets stocked from that back room by regular volunteers coordinated by a part-time food bank coordinator.
Overseeing the local operations is a husband and wife team Calvin, 75, and Beryl, 73, Collins, who came out of retirement for a temporary one-month post in Collingwood one year ago. They’re going on 40 years in ministry together, including eight and a half years as missionaries in Karachi, Pakistan.
They’ve had the tricky job of navigating a territorial office decision to close the thrift store, but also now have the honour of overseeing a new project to use the old thrift store area as a space to welcome people who need help, bring in extra resources for them, and offer them a warm place to have a coffee and a meal.
The thrift store space will be converted into a reception area, offices for outreach, pastoral care, food bank coordinator and another office to be used by other outside agency workers specializing in social services and other resources to meet the needs of those who come to the Salvation Army for help.
There will also be tables and chairs set up in the space, offering people a place to get warm, or cool, have a coffee and a meal, and spend some time with a roof over their heads.
“We can’t wait,” said Beryl. “I think it’s just going to be so good and what the town needs.”
And she would know, at least in part, what is needed.
On Friday she greeted two people at the doors of the Salvation Army, soaked from the snow, and in need of shelter.
“Yes, they were high .. I could call them by name because I recognized them and they told me they stayed in the shelter last night, but had nowhere to go tonight … they were totally exhausted,” recalled Beryl.
The couple got warm soup, dry clothes and a new pair of boots. Beryl and Calvin bought them a tent and sleeping bags at Canadian Tire and drove them to a spot in town where they wanted to set up for the night.
“We had nowhere else to send them,” said Beryl. “There was nothing else to do.”
She asked them to come back this week, so she knew they were ok. But she hasn’t seen them yet.
“So yes, we do need this,” she said of the plans for the old thrift store space.
In January, the Salvation Army team is starting up its breakfast program again, offering a hot meal in the morning.
“You have to have staff for that … people who understand mental health and addictions,” said Beryl.
There are rules for how often people are supposed to use the food bank – once a month –- and those who ask for a Christmas Hamper are asked questions about income and expenses. But, compassion is the highest rule at the Salvation Army.
“We don’t turn anyone away,” said Beryl.
She says people will come with only a backpack of belongings to their name, and she and the other staff and volunteers wouldn’t deny them food.
“Some people are on disability, some have a low income, some are the working poor not doing very well or just starting out … we have single moms, seniors, and we have people on the street in and out of shelters,” said Beryl. “Money comes and money goes.”
Money has been coming in to the Collingwood Salvation Army to help with the Christmas Hampers and other work the charity does for those in need.
“Collingwood is so generous, we commend them,” said Beryl.
Usually, the charity runs a letter campaign to solicit donations around the holidays, but haven’t this year because of the postal strike. Calvin said those donations usually make up about 50 per cent of the fundraising for the year.
Beryl and Calvin are encouraging people to donate by calling the office or stopping by with a cheque, cash, credit card or gift cards.
Volunteers, too, are always needed and welcome.
“We’re open to any conversation people want to have with us,” said Beryl, be that for giving or receiving help.
If you’d like to donate to the Salvation Army, you can call 705-445-0490 and press one according to the prompts to arrange a donation. The Kettle Campaign is also underway, so you can donate via the kettles set up at grocery stores in town.
Monetary donations are the easiest to accommodate as they can be applied to whatever immediate needs are identified.
If you’d like to volunteer for the Salvation Army, you can call 705-445-0490 and press three for Major Beryl and Calvin Collins’ office.
