Give a gift of hope and spread holiday cheer by donating to The Salvation Army in Fairfax Friday, December 10, in Tarkio Saturday, December 11, or in Rock Port Friday and Saturday, December 17 and 18.

Submitted by Monica Bailey, Board Member

I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty intentional about how I give of my time and money. I have trusted Salvation Army as an organization and a service for many years. Motivated by a love of God and others, this national 501(c)3 nonprofit is known for spending as little as possible on administrative costs, and as much as possible on local needs, including food assistance, emergency rent and utility assistance, youth and senior programs, eyeglasses, wheelchair repair, dental work, and more. In recent months we’ve helped medical patients with fuel to get back and forth to treatments, paid for milk and lunches at school, purchased a tire for someone to be able to travel to work and keep his job, supplied backpacks for the Atchison County back-to-school fair, and bought personal hygiene products for students.

An amazing 84% of what is donated locally stays in Atchison County, and even more in the event of a disaster such as our recent floods. Most of Atchison County Salvation Army’s annual fundraising happens in December, when bell ringers and red kettles are out in abundance. You can help support our local Salvation Army (and spread holiday cheer!) in many ways this month:

• Ring the bell (or donate!) in Fairfax on Friday, December 10.

• Ring the bell (or donate!) in Tarkio on Saturday, December 11.

• Ring the bell (or donate!) in Rock Port on Friday, December 17, or Saturday December 18.

Tax deductible donations may be sent to:

• Atchison County Sal-vation Army, 218 S. Maple Street, Tarkio, MO 64491 (envelopes will be included in the December 9 issue of Atchison County Mail)

• Janene McEnaney, 101 N. 12th St., Tarkio, MO  64491

• Bob Alldredge, PO Box 45, Fairfax, MO 64446

• Jim Clodfelter, 205 S. Main, Rock Port, MO 64482

Please reach out to any of the following Atchison County Salvation Army board members if you want to sign up for bell ringing or if you have any other questions: Jim Clodfelter, Sally Wehmann, Bob Alldredge, Janene McEnaney, Carol Herron, Bill Slaughter, Chris Stevens, Tammy Grossman, Sam O’Riley or Monica Bailey.  We would appreciate your support of Salvation Army this holiday season, so we can continue to care for our neighbors in times of need.