Empty Stocking Fund donations surpass pre-COVID giving for local families in need
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Empty Stocking Fund
Charlotte Observer readers contribute to the fund, which helps with expenses for the Salvation Army’s angel tree program.
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Charlotte Observer readers donated more money to the paper’s Empty Stocking Fund this holiday season to help local families in need than in 2019, the year before COVID-19 prompted unprecedented giving, Salvation Army officials said.
The Salvation Army of Greater Charlotte’s Angel Tree program matches children in need with anonymous donors who buy them presents for Christmas, as well as provides senior citizens with gifts. In cases where donors didn’t step up, Charlotte Observer readers covered the expense by giving to the Empty Stocking Fund.
The Observer has sponsored the Empty Stocking Fund since about 1920.
Readers gave $227,822 to the Empty Stocking Fund this holiday season, compared with about $349,100 in 2020, Salvation Army figures show.
As the coronavirus pandemic first took hold, 2020 saw record giving, with donations more than double the previous year to the fund. Nearly twice as many people contributed to the fund in 2020, Salvation Army spokesman Brent Rinehart said at the time.
So officials expected giving in 2021 to come nowhere close to the prior year’s levels, Major Wilma Mason, Salvation Army area commander, said recently. But officials were excited when donations surpassed the 2019 totals and matched giving in 2018, she said.
Mason added, “2020 couldn’t be counted as normal.”
The new totals were 45% over 2019, an unusually down year, officials said.
And 2020 represented a 124% rise in donations over the $156,000 raised in 2019, according to The Salvation Army. What’s more, nearly twice as many people contributed to the fund that season — 1,418 — compared with 779 in 2019, Rinehart said at the time.
This year, more than 900 people gave to the Empty Stocking Fund campaign, for an average gift of $250, Rinehart said.
Last year, more than 1,300 people donated to the fund, with an average gift of $264, he said.
‘Blessed with support’
Readers again recognized the great need in the community this holiday season, Mason said, and “everybody working together was just incredible.”
“We were blessed to have the support of so many on this year’s campaign, and every contribution is significant,” Rinehart added.
Various foundations, corporations and individuals gave $5,000 gifts to the campaign, including the Brunnemer Family Foundation, Roger and Francis Smith, the Stubblefield Foundation, Jane and Bradley Fisher, Shirley Burns, and retired Bank of America chairman and CEO Hugh McColl Jr. and his wife, Jane McColl, according to Rinehart.
Mark Ficken Ford Lincoln of Charlotte and the non-profit, Charlotte-based Spokes Group came through with hundreds upon hundreds of bicycles for children — “1,000 from the Spokes Group alone,” Mason said.
Helping others
The Angel Tree program helped 2,674 families in Mecklenburg and Union counties this holiday season, representing just over 6,800 children, Salvation Army officials said. And the program gave gift cards to 1,361 seniors and 400 people with disabilities, according to The Salvation Army.
“Last year, (2020)the need was larger, as we served 3,704 Angel families representing 8,162 children,” Rinehart said.
Meanwhile, money raised by the 2020 Empty Stocking Fund campaign allowed The Salvation Army to purchase more than 11,000 toys and 1,741 gift cards for seniors in the Silver Bells program, Rinehart said. An additional 821 gift cards were distributed to foster children and children and adults with disabilities.
“Over the past two years as we’ve navigated the coronavirus pandemic, readers of The Charlotte Observer have really stepped forward to support families in need at Christmas,” Rinehart said.
“It has been a difficult time for many in our community,” he said. Even with the return to some normalcy, “we know that many in our community face a long road to recover from the pandemic’s economic and emotional impacts.
“By spreading joy, giving toys and helping with basic needs, families can have hope knowing they are not in this alone,” he said. “This Christmas program shows the impact we can have when we all work together to support those in need.”
How to donate
To donate online: EmptyStockingFundCLT.org.
To donate by mail, send checks to: The Salvation Army of Greater Charlotte, P.O. Box 31128, Charlotte, NC 28231. Make checks payable to The Salvation Army of Greater Charlotte and write “Empty Stocking Fund” in the memo line.
Questions concerning your donation? Call 704-716-2769.
We’ll publish all donors’ names.
This story was originally published January 5, 2022 at 11:28 AM.
