Wishing a blessed Christmas and New Year to All - Mark, Joan and family$100 “We need everyone’s help to reach that goal no donation is too small.” “We hope to raise $100,000 this year, enough to deliver complete holiday meals to 5,000 families across five counties and served by more than two dozen Salvation Army units and corps,” Bock said.
“We gave the Salvation Army units cases of food, basically all the items that would be in the bags, and then the Salvation Army was able to pack it up and distribute it.” “Last year, because of the pandemic situation, we ended up not packing the bags,” Bock said. In years past, volunteers would pack those groceries and take them to local Salvation Army centers for distribution along with new and gently used children’s books, a Trib coloring book and a pack of crayons. Money for the food drive is primarily raised in November and December and is used to purchase groceries at cost from partner Shop’n Save. There also was the challenge of the covid-19 pandemic, which added extra layers of health and safety considerations along some of the same supply-chain issues that are affecting international sales markets today. “But unfortunately, fundraising has gotten harder over the years, and we were forced to reevaluate our service area.” Operation Santa Claus Chairperson Lindsay Bock. “There were times we would serve 9,000 or 10,000 families,” said This year’s Operation Santa Claus campaign was officially announced on Halloween, and this year the groups involved have a new partner in Pittsburgh-based 412 Food Rescue. “At the time, George Beidler was the Greensburg editor, and he kind of spearheaded the whole thing to get it off the ground,” said retired Tribune-Review General Manager Art McMullen, who has been part of the holiday drive for more than two decades, helping to provide holiday meals to families who are struggling financially. Review’s Operation Santa Claus started as an idea in the newspaper’s editorial department.