Troop 3 GT Scouts Lainey Haas, 13, of Salem, left, and Allyson Gaul, 13, of Rochester, help kick off this year’s Salem Salvation Army red kettle campaign at Giant Eagle on Saturday. The girls are members of the girl troop of Boy Scouts of America at Salem First Presbyterian Church, which adopted the red kettle campaign as a community service project. The group also plans to help serve the Community Thanksgiving Luncheon at the Salvation Army, 1249 N. Ellsworth Ave., at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. The luncheon is open to anyone and a limited number of coats for children and adults will be available. (Salem News photo by Mary Ann Greier)

salem — The Salem Salvation Army kicked off this year’s red kettle campaign at Giant Eagle on Saturday with some help from the scouts of Troop 3 GT, a girl troop of Boy Scouts of America.

“They all collectively, as a group, think it’s important to give back,” Scoutmaster Krista Haas said.

The troop started out with just five girls but has grown to 11 and besides ringing the bells while collecting donations for the Salvation Army kettles, they’re going to help serve at the Community Thanksgiving Luncheon at the Salvation Army, 1249 N. Ellsworth Ave., at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Salem Salvation Army Lt. Angelica Spence said the Salvation Army welcomes volunteers, especially this time of year, which tends to be fairly busy in the weeks leading up to Christmas. They rely on groups like the scouts, community service clubs, organizations, businesses and individuals and can always use more help manning the kettles or with donations for their social service programming.

“It takes a community together to support a community,” Spence said.

The Masons from Perry Lodge 185 recently donated turkeys to help less fortunate families for Thanksgiving and they’re manning the kettles. The Thanksgiving luncheon on Wednesday is open to anyone. There will be a limited number of coats available for children and adults during the meal.

The goal for this year’s local kettle campaign is $60,000, which is $1,000 more than the $59,000 collected last year. After Black Friday, the kettles also will be located at Walmart, Sparkle Market in Salem and Columbiana and Walgreens besides Giant Eagle. Each bank has the smaller tabletop kettles to collect donations, with the gold kettle currently at Consumers Bank. Banks are having a friendly competition for fundraising.

Money from the kettle campaign helps support Salvation Army services throughout the year, such as the after school program, camp, emergency assistance and over 300 kids for the Christmas distribution of new toys and new clothing. Tags for people to make purchases for families are available at Walmart, at Giant Eagle and the Salem Community Center. Some businesses took tags, too, such as BB Rooners and Salem Fitness. Spence said they have strong support from businesses, even as some shut down and they lose them for support, others step forward.

Toys with the tags can be dropped off at the Salvation Army. There’s also a box to collect toys located at Super Cuts at the Walmart Plaza. Cost Cutters on Second Street is collecting non-perishable foods such as canned goods and box foods. Shoe Sensations has tags for shoes for children.

Spence said the goal is to provide each child with three new toys and two complete new outfits. They have close to 200 families that need help. Food assistance is given to families with children 12 years and older or senior citizens and adults in need. Food and gifts are provided for families with children under age 12.

She stressed that the Salvation Army will help anybody who needs help, offering equal opportunity assistance.

They’ll also accept help from anybody for any length of time. She said “even if it’s just a couple hours, it makes an impact. We’re extremely blessed in our community and we’re thankful for the support.”

Even if someone comes upon a kettle and they have no cash to give, smart chips and QR codes on Red Kettle signs across Salem make it possible for shoppers to scan their phones to make a digital donation through Apple Pay or Google Pay. Shoppers will be directed to a donation page that accepts Apple or Google payment options and the money will then be distributed to the local Salvation Army units based on the donor’s billing zip code, with an email receipt sent to their phone, according to a press release about the electronic options.

To volunteer to help out the Salem Salvation Army, call 330-332-5624.

Also any girls out there ages 11 to 18 are welcome to join the scouts of Troop 3 GT at the Salem Presbyterian Church off of Second Street. Meetings are held at 6:30 p.m. Monday nights. There’s also information about scouting on the Buckeye Council website at www.buckeyecouncil.org.

Haas said being part of the scouts has been a good opportunity for the girls. They went to summer camp this past year, visited Gettysburg and have gone hiking. They just completed a 20-mile hike on the Canal Fulton tow path. Scouting offers them challenges. Their male counterparts in Troop 3 BT also plan to help them out with the red kettle campaign.

mgreier@salemnews.net