‘It’s incredible’: After facing a steep drop in early donations, the Salvation Army Food Bank received a large single donation that helped turn things around

In mid-December, the Sault’s Salvation Army Food Bank was facing an alarming shortfall in monetary donations to its annual Christmas Kettle Campaign.

Funds raised through the campaign go to feeding the community’s hungry.

Now, thanks to raised awareness of the food bank’s need, the Salvation Army finished its 2025 Christmas Kettle Campaign with a record amount of donations.

“It looked like it was going to be a horrible year but one person made a very large donation of $50,000,” said Major Sean Furey, Salvation Army Food Bank director in an interview with SooToday on Friday.

“In those last five days of the campaign two people gave $5,000 each and many gave five, seven, eight thousand dollars. I was just blown away. There were massive donations at the kettles. I think our best day ever was on the 22nd of December. We made $13,000 on that day. We topped somewhere over $150,000. I haven’t got the final numbers yet but I’ll be shocked if it’s under $152,000. It was our best year ever. It’s incredible,” Furey said.

A final figure of $152,000 would be $20,000 over the organization’s 2025 goal of $132,000.

The Salvation Army Food Bank’s 2025 Christmas Kettle Campaign ended Dec. 23.

Furey said in December that donations to the Christmas Kettle Campaign were down by 30 per cent.

Algoma Steel’s announcement of its impending layoff of 1,000 employees is thought to have been a major factor behind the slump in donations, Furey said.

Furey and food bank volunteers had been concerned the charitable organization wouldn’t be able to meet its goals in providing for the Sault’s hungry.

“If you don’t make your goal it means there’s things you can’t do for the community. Now we have a surplus. Now we can do everything we want to do. Plus, if anything just pops up, we can do it,” Furey said.

A single person or a person with a family can call the Salvation Army Food Bank at (705) 759-4143, outline their particular food needs, show up at the food bank’s front door at 78 Elgin St. with identification to pick up their order and walk away with a food hamper.

Approximately 2,900 food hampers go out twice a year to local families.

Clients can also show up at the food bank between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. or from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Thursday and pick up a meal at the door.

In addition, the organization gave out more than 25,000 lunch bags in 2025, each bag containing five meals.

The Salvation Army also supplies about 200 seniors with food each month.

“One big thing for us is that our seniors program is now safe. That’s a big deal for us. We’re serving 200 seniors a month and now we’re fully funded for the year,” Furey said.

“We’ll have enough money to buy food. We won’t run short of socks and mittens and hats and coats and all that stuff. We’ll be able to get through the year just fine with this amount of money.”

Donations to the Salvation Army Food Bank Christmas Kettle Campaign went up dramatically as word of the shortfall in donations spread through the community, Furey said.

“I was very excited. By the 23rd I knew we were going to make our goal. We received $60,000 in cheques in a matter of days. It was quite a change in our situation. The generous nature of Saultites is incredible. The Lord came through.”