The Salvation Army has officially closed its holiday season for 2022. During the season the organization was able to serve over 204 kids on the angel trees around town, along with 67 families receiving holiday meals through the Salvation Army and their partners.
“This year was amazing, we were able to help so many kids and families,” Region 4 Service Extension Representative, Shelby Huff said. “It makes me so happy to see this support from the community year after year.”
This season for the ‘Red Kettle Campaign’ the Salvation Army hired a coordinator for the campaign to focus on making the campaign as successful as possible.
“Our coordinator was phenomenal,” Huff said. “She hit the ground running at full speed and it showed with how successful it was this year.”
The Salvation Army raised $29,728.10 in this years ‘Red Kettle Campaign’ which is more than triple the amount that was raised last year, the 2021 total funds raised were rounded out right at $8,500. As mentioned in a previous Pampa News article, the mayoral challenge between Pampa’s Lance DeFever and Borger’s Karen Felker was won by DeFever raising $11,945.65 for Pampa alone. The second challenge was between the Pampa Fire Department and the Hoover Volunteer Fire Department, where they were able to raise $2,000 in a one day challenge. All of the funds raised in the ‘Red Kettle Campaign’ stay local and go to the Salvation Army for all the work they do within the community.
“These funds that we raised, and we couldn’t have done without this amazing community, will stay local to be used here,” Huff said. “We use the funds raised to continue helping people in the community with rent assistance, utility assistance and prescription assistance.”
The shining star of the campaign was Destiny Pack, who for the second year in a row rang the bell for the campaign for 40 hours week, all throughout the six week campaign.
“She is a so involved with it and people love it,” Huff said. “This is her second year dedicating that much time to the cause.”
In addition to the challenges throughout the campaign, Altrusa of Pampa, NHS, Junior NHS, City of Pampa employees and many other local organizations donated time to ring the bell at various locations to raise funds.
With the season now over, Huff and the Salvation Army are now refocusing back onto the financial support they offer to the community, but also getting ready for the annual summer camp the Salvation Army offers to kids in the community.
“We have two camps, one for kids and one for teens,” Huff said. “They are entirely free to kids interested in going, it’s a camp that’s dear to my heart because I was able to attend it myself.”
The kids camp is for ages seven through 13, and the teen camp is for ages 14 through 17. Camp Hoblitzelle is located in Midlothian and sits on 500 acres of land, but the camp only spans across 200, but the entirety of the land is owned by the Salvation Army.
“Camp Hoblitzelle is an amazing experience for kids,” Huff said. “We bus the kids down there and they get to experience the activities we have to offer at no charge to them or their families.”
The camp only requires kids to fill out an application if they are interested in going. The camp is also the set for the biblical show ‘The Chosen.’ The show follows the life of Jesus from his early age throughout his adulthood.
“The first season of the show, only parts of the show were filmed on our land,” Huff said. “But now it is filmed there, and they’ve built sets that are still there now and will be open for people to view at some point down the road.”
The sets include the town, Capernaum with real trade stores. But are not open to the public as of now. As for the camp, skill based activities are offered for kids that are interested. The camp also features a small scale water park and offers many activities like zip-lining or feeding the longhorns on the camp and horse riding among other things.
To see what all the camp has to offer, you can visit the website at camphoblitzelle.com or for interest in sending a kid contact the Salvation Army at (806) 663-1256.
The Salvation Army is located at 801 N. Sumner and is opened to aid those in need.
