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ELKINS -- The Salvation Army is currently seeking volunteers and donors for its annual holiday campaign, that will kickoff this weekend.
Beginning on Saturday, a Christmas tradition that dates back more than 100 years will be offered when Salvation Army volunteers begin ringing bells and seeking donations in their red kettles in front of the Elkins Walmart.
"We are looking for some volunteers in the community who might want to volunteer some of their time to ring the bell for us," Major Tonya Roberts told The Inter-Mountain. "All the money that we collect in the kettles stays in Randolph County to be used for our food pantry, and to help with the utility assistance program that we provide."
The red kettles will be stationed in front of the store each Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m. The fundraiser will run until the Friday before Christmas.
The Salvation Army's other major initiative is its Angel Tree Program, which will help close to 200 children in the local community. Trees will be set up beginning on Saturday at Walmart, Bealls Outlet, Pizza Hut and the Salvation Army Store in the Tygart Valley Mall.
"We are gearing up for Christmas and we have about 200 kids that we are collecting gifts for," said Roberts. "People can come by at one of the locations and pick up an angel to buy toys and gifts for a local child.
"People can come out to one of the locations and take an angel to sponsor a child."
Roberts said the Salvation Army collected applications for the Angel Tree during the month of October to find children who were in need of assistance this holiday season.
"Through the Clarksburg office we cover eight counties, giving us around 2,000 children to help this holiday season," said Roberts. "The Angel Tree is for infants to 12-year-olds, but we are also partnering with the Sheetz store in Elkins to help a group of kids who are in the 13- to 15-year-old age group.
"We identified 16 families in the Angel Tree program who had teens along with the younger children who needed help. So those are the families we are helping out through Sheetz."
For more information on the Angel Tree or for those wishing to volunteer with the Salvation Army's Red Kettles, call 304-637-1173 or 304-622-2360, extension 7.