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.

Women’s Auxiliary

The Women’s Auxiliary has evolved into a dedicated group that supports and acts as liaisons to programs developed by The Salvation Army. The Auxiliary hosts event and fundraisers for this non-profit organization. The largest event hosted by the Auxiliary is the annual Golf 4 Giving open.

The Women’s Auxiliary doesn’t just “Ring the Bell” during the Christmas Season. It works to support the many activities of TSA Social Service Programs, Corps facilities, and helps fund TSA Cadets through the College for Officer Training.

As an Auxiliary member, you can participate in a variety of projects such as Gift of Warmth, or delivering holiday gifts to home-bound seniors. We also wrap gifts for older adults, and serve luncheons to hundreds of seniors at Christmas and Easter. Other programs focus around children, providing them with a coat/hat and toys, during the Toy Shop, Coats for Kids, or the Chat and Make a Hat program. There are also opportunities to help the homeless, abused, and those recovering from drug and alcohol addiction.

Being a part of SAWA is a true blessing, not only by volunteering, but by the friendships that form as members work together and have fun, too! You can choose your area of interest. Auxiliary members can volunteer for as many as they wish, which can vary from month to month.

SAWA meets at various locations the second Thursday of the month, from March through December and discusses how to best help and organize volunteers and where the needs are greatest.

Dates for this year’s General Meetings

• March 11, 2010
• April 8, 2010
• May 13, 2010

Golf 4 Giving Open
The 12th Annual Golf4Giving Open will take place on Wednesday, August 25th, at the Golf Club of Indiana at 11:30 am.  Please conatct Nan Evanega at (317) 475-9437 or nanevan@comcast.net for more information about this event.

Contact Information
For more information about the Women’s Auxiliary contact Carolene Bash at 317-251-4744 or Lisa Dashiell at 317-823-3977.

Gift of Warmth distribution 2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

Entering The Salvation Army’s Emergency Disaster Training Facility Saturday, Dec. 5, volunteers came upon a table lined with zip codes. Under each zip code was a stack of residences in all directions of Indianapolis that volunteers could visit to give away gift bags for this year’s Gift of Warmth distribution event.

Gift of Warmth focuses on giving a little holiday cheer to the elderly, the physically disabled and those who are, in some way or another, shut-in their homes. Some of the gift recipients are people recommended by community organizations or visiting nurses. They spread this cheer by visiting and giving away Christmas gift bags to people in the community.

Last Wednesday volunteers came to wrap and assemble the gifts bags which included such gifts as blankets, teddy bears and snacks. Read more

Walmart donates $5,000 in coats for kids in need

   

 

With a few dollars in last minute donations to spend for Coats for Kids, we called our friends at Walmart to see which store had the most coats available in stock. With $1,000 to spend, we knew we’d find good coats for great prices. Well, we can always count on Walmart to go above and beyond with their support for The Salvation Army. After hosting our shoppers and helping us with our purchases, Walmart donated $5,000 in coats to Indy’s kids in need! We just can’t thank Walmart enough for helping us help families who are struggling.  

This year’s Bob Gregory’s Coats For Kids was easily the largest distribution day to date with the line to enter at the Northwest Pavilion stretching for blocks around the Indiana State Fairgrounds. This annual partnership with Tuchman Cleaners and WTHR-13 distributed coats to more than 5,000 area children on Saturday. (Check out the video on the right)

We’d also like to thank our event partners, Two Men And A Truck, the Indianapolis Colts, Store And Move, Burlington Coat Factory, and the hundreds of volunteers who make this event happen.  It truly takes a community’s efforts to reach out to so many in need. “No one group could pull off something like this,” said WTHR retired weatherman Bob Gregory.  “This is a team effort dedicated to helping those who need it most.”  Bob has been a part of every coats campaign since it’s beginning 23 years ago.  “I’ve never seen a crowd like this,” he said.  “But I’ve also never seen a community respond like this before.” 

If you didn’t get the opportunity to help with Coats for Kids, remember Angel Tree and Toy Shop begin next month. Last year, we helped over 900 Hoosier families with Christmas gifts, and we’re certain to have even more requests from parents experiencing recent lay-offs and job losses. Stay tuned for details of how your group or business can help Christmas wishes come true for Indy’s kids this December.

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