Families get food & toys from the generosity of the community & the Salvation Army

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) – After weeks of bell ringing and collecting donations, the Salvation Army hands out toys and food to families in need.

“This is not just a Salvation Army. This is the entire community rallying together to make sure that the needs of families are met for Christmas,” Volunteer & Public Relations Coordinator Kristi Simmons said.

Northview Church in Fargo normally sees plenty of cars for Sunday services, but probably nothing like this.

“Larger families will get two boxes. Smaller families will get one box. We’ve had 740 families apply for food and 500 families apply for toys this year,” Salvation Army Maj. Abe Tamayo said.

Kids 13 and younger gave the Salvation Army their Christmas list of toys they wanted and their parents and guardians registered for food boxes in October and November.

“Lots of area businesses donated toys. Lots of individuals picked up angel tree tags from the Walmart Dilworth or from us directly,” Simmons explained.

The boxes have hams courtesy of North Dakota based Cloverdale Foods and Hornbacher’s, bread from Pan-O-Gold, cake mix and a light bulb from Xcel Energy.

“Grateful to those stores and those vendors and many volunteers that come out to make this thing possible,” Tamayo said.

Thanks to the generosity of the community, the toys were bought from the money donated to red kettles during the Salvation Army’s bell ringing campaign.

The food will go a long way for people like this family of seven.

“We are grateful to get this donation. It will be a great help to me and my kids,” Mother of six Lisa Goodwin said.

“Just want to thank all the people in the community that donated time, talent, financially. We can’t pull this off without it being a community effort,” Simmons said.

Everyone getting food or toys or donating their time is sure to know the reason for the season: giving.

If you want to donate to the Salvation Army, you can by clicking here.

Bell ringers will also be out collecting money through Christmas Eve.