10 Cares Thanksgiving Sets New Record for Donations for Salvation Army
By TEMI-TOPE ADELEYE, NBC 10 NEWS | Friday, November 11th, 2022
(WJAR) — Thanks to the 10 Cares Thanksgiving Telethon, The Salvation Army surpassed its goal of $110,000, setting a new record for donations.
"It's always so inspiring, I mean it really is, you know to take phone calls from really generous people. What a gift it is to be able to do that and talk to these people and we made our goal which is great," said Salvation Army State Advisory Board member and volunteer Christopher Howland.
Howland was one of several volunteers who helped take donations on Thursday. 10 Cares Thanksgiving raised $110,705, which means warm meals will be packaged and handed out to around 4,000 families the week of Thanksgiving.
One of the donors called towards the end of the event to donate $5,100.
"He was just such a great guy and he said, 'You know, I'm legally blind. I'm not going to do a credit card, I'll write a check. You're actually going to have to come to my house and write the check and I got permission from the Salvation Army to do that and then that's when he said let me know when you get to my house if you didn't reach the goal and we'll make up the difference,'" Howland said.
The anonymous gentleman donated an additional $2,000, helping the Salvation Army meet its goal.
When asked what message he would like to share with the community as we head into the holidays, Howland said, "Just keep the human spirit alive because it just, it's so inspiring and I do believe generous acts inspire more generous acts in the future."
While the telethon line is closed, there are still ways to donate: Text: FEEDRI to 41444 or visit: tinyurl.com/FeedRI2022