Bristol Salvation Army Offers Food & Creative Arts
Bristol Area Feeding Program - addressing food insecurity for the city of Bristol and surrounding areas
Due to COVID-19, the feeding program in Bristol, Connecticut is now conducted in a walk-up manner. The entire feeding program is being run by two Salvation Army Officers and the same three volunteers since the onset of the pandemic 11 months ago. It is important to note that we have followed strict COVID-19 safety protocols throughout, engaging with the same Officers and volunteers, not allowing visitors into the building and deep cleaning the facility on a regular basis.
- Food Pantry – operating Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. by appointment. Walk-ins are accepted, but appointments are highly recommended.
- Bowls of Hope Soup Kitchen – operating Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. The Soup Kitchen serves between 50 and 100 individuals per day. Each client receives a bagged lunch containing two lunches plus a container of hot soup. While food comes through Foodshare and donations from local companies, the Corps still must purchase staples on a regular basis.
Creative Arts & Music Program for Children – a music and dance program for children coming from no to low income families
Despite the pandemic and the unprecedented challenges resulting from COVID-19, we have been able to continue our Creative Arts & Music Program (CAM) this year. While the last year has been traumatic for our participants, the CAM program serves as a lifeline for many of them.
In the face of much hardship, we are blessed by the fact that no child has dropped out of the CAM program. We have 44 children registered for the program with an average attendance of 7 households (encompassing 23 children) participating in our Zoom classes that take place twice per week. In preparation for our Zoom classes, each month we dropped off a “Hope Box” for each child. In the box are four bags – one for each week – that contain the materials they need for the week’s activities including sheet music, a craft, a snack, and words of hope and encouragement. The children participate in arts & crafts, dance, and drum classes with us online. In the spring, we will film their dance performance in our parking lot. For now, the children are utilizing any hard surface available at home as they build their drumming skills with the drum sticks we provide for them.
The Salvation Army’s Bristol Corp OpEx – addressing the financial stability of this community-based program
As everyone knows, operating a charity is not free. The Salvation Army has successfully rendered service in America since 1880 by maintaining conservative financial policies, enabling us to meet human needs without discrimination. Doing the Most Good by reaching out to those in need in every community is our highest goal. Our pledge is to maintain the highest standards of financial accountability to continue to deserve your trust.
The Better Business Bureau says that no more than 35% of a nonprofit’s budget should be spent on OpEx. Our operating expenses cover administrative support services including IT, auditing and bookkeeping, public relations, general management, and the oversight and coordination of programmatic services. Operating expenses are costs that we must make to continue and sustain our programs and services.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions and not allowing volunteers to assist inside and outside of our building, our overall expenses have increased exponentially.