Dane Gibson
Northern News Services

NNSL (Apr 30/99) - It's time again for Salvation Army's annual Red Shield Appeal. Between 90-110 volunteers will be out to raise $30,000 in Yellowknife.

"Of the $30,000 we hope to raise, we get more than twice that back for Yellowknife and the territories. From our perspective, donating to Red Shield represents a good investment," Salvation Army executive director, Alan Hoeft said.

The money is used to support the many social programs offered by the agency such as the emergency shelter, kids' camps, two daily food lines and the food hamper program.

"There's no other community with a population of 17,000 who has a Salvation Army presence as significant as ours. We make a territory-wide impact," Hoeft said.

"Thankfully, we've almost always reached our Red Shield goal and that's because we live in a community that recognizes the social needs that exist. I would say there is a high degree of awareness in this community regarding the needs of others."

This year, they are staging a three-day blitz on the city where every door will get knocked on, May 3,4,5. Hoeft said the success of the campaign often depends on the work donated by the volunteers that make it happen.

"Most of our volunteers have done this year after year. They're very faithful and believe in what we do," Hoeft said.

Besides supporting local initiatives, the money raised for Red Shield by communities across Canada goes into a national pot, which supports relief operations worldwide. Currently, Red Shield is providing relief to operations in Kosovo and Albania.