Syracuse (WSYR-TV) -- Christmas is just a week away and local charities are making that final push for holiday donations.
Both the Salvation Army and the Rescue Mission say they’re behind on turkeys this year, which is the main dish given to families in need for Christmas.
Salvation Army volunteer and Grant Middle School student Alex Moore has been busily sorting donations for the Salvation Army’s Christmas Bureau. This is the second year he’s volunteered to help.
“It feels good that you’re helping someone else who’s in need. You feel like you’re doing something right,” said Moore.
Moore and dozens of his classmates have signed on to help the Salvation Army.
The students, along with other volunteers, will divide the food into baskets for 2,800 local families to take home.
Most of the food came from school and corporate food drives. Each item is sorted into barrels so volunteers will easily be able to pick out each item, as needed, for the baskets on Friday.
Volunteers at the Rescue Mission are also preparing to serve a record number of prepared meals for families on Christmas day.
“We're anticipating well over 2,000 people for Christmas and we're really concerned about that. We're behind budget right now in terms of fundraising and we also still have needs for food to make sure that we can pull together the meal and make sure it's a success and the celebration that it's meant to be,” said Alan Thornton, with the Rescue Mission.
And that's on top of the average 775 meals they serve everyday, which is up 100 meals a day from this time last year.
Both organizations say they’re still expecting a successful holiday, thanks to the thousands of volunteers and your donations.
Click on either of the links below if you’re interested in donating to either the Salvation Army or the Rescue Mission.
Donate to the Rescue MissionOr
Donate to the Salvation Army
