ABOVE: Cooper Hoye and Wesley Maday, both 13, remove bags from the back of a vehicle and put them in a shopping cart during the Community Kamp For Kids red bag collection Saturday morning at the Salvation Army Center at 303 on Downtown Plaza in Fairmont.

FAIRMONT– On Saturday the Salvation Army’s annual Community Kamp for Kids red bag collection took place. The food collected will go to the local Salvation Amy Food Shelf, which serves all of Martin County.

Krystal Stover, an office manager and caseworker for the Salvation Army, oversees the red bag drive. While Stover has been with the Salvation Army for about five years, she estimates that the red bag collection has been taking place for well over 20 years.

“They used to do the sleep out with the Boy Scouts at that time and that’s where they got the Kamp for Kids name,” Stover explained.

Local Boy Scout troops still help out with the collection, as do a number of other volunteers. The drive is sponsored by Lakes 106.5 FM, the Photo Press and the Sentinel. While Stover said they had a good turn-out of volunteers this year, just 2,312 pounds of food was collected. Last year about 3,200 pounds were collected.

“It was definitely down from previous years. I’m guessing it has to do with inflation and the fact that everyone is kind of hurting in the community at this point in time,” Stover said.

She estimates that about 150 families come into the Salvation Army for services each month, many of which utilize the food shelf.

In addition to the food collected, $355 was collected in cash or check during the red bag collection. This money will go into the emergency assistance fund.

“We have quite a few programs that emergency assistance funds including emergency car repair, rental assistance, utility assistance and prescription drug assistance,” Stover said.

The red bag collection is one of the Salvation Army’s annual drives but the kettles, seen out and about in communities this time of year, is the biggest fundraiser for the non-profit organization each year.

Locally, kettles are located at Hy-Vee, Fareway, Boomgaars and the post office in Fairmont.

“That provides all of our emergency service funding for the entire year,” Stover said.

She said in the five years she’s been with the Salvation Army, they’ve only had a handful of private donations to the emergency service fund, but otherwise they rely strictly on what’s raised through the kettles.

Stover said they’re in need of additional financial assistance to push more local programming through the Salvation Army.

“We have a board that’s been put together that’s looking at poverty drivers in Martin County and ways that we can lower the poverty level. We’re looking for donations and even help with that if people are interested in getting involved,” Stover said.

She said in the spring they had a meeting with former Blandin members from Martin County. At that time they talked about different poverty drivers in the county. They looked at the census figures from 2010 to 2020 and saw that the poverty rate increased by about 10 percent.

They identified some contributing poverty drivers in Martin County as housing, daycare and job security.

“We really dived in as a board in looking at those three factors and we’re looking at how we can invest to contribute positively in getting that number lowered in Martin County,” Stover said.

One of the programs the Salvation Army has been focusing on is Pathway to Hope, which offers weekly support sessions and aims to help a family identify its individual challenges.

“We’ve helped families secure housing, jobs and now they’re thriving in our community,” Stover said.

She said the board views the program as a way to address the poverty drivers in the community but noted that the program does take time to get through.

There are still shifts available for kettle workers through Christmas. Stover said people can contact her at the Salvation Army or online at registertoring.com if they’re willing to fill them.