Above: From left Brooklyn Nelson, 8, Dade Geyerman, 18, and Jerry Jorgenson, unload red bags from a vehicle into a shopping cart Saturday morning on the 300 block of Downtown Plaza in Fairmont. Saturday was the Kamp For Kids food, toys and cash drive where volunteers picked up red bags around Fairmont and other communities in Martin County. Around 3,200 pounds of goods were collected.

FAIRMONT– On Saturday, a host of volunteers were out collecting red bags for Community Kamp for Kids. The donations of food and toys will go to the local Salvation Army Food Shelf, which serves all of Martin County.

Kamp for Kids is sponsored by Lakes 106.5 FM Radio, Photo Press and the Sentinel.

Krystal Stover is an office manager and caseworker for the Salvation Army. She also oversees Kamp for Kids, the Red Bag food drive.

Of the weekend’s drive, Stover said, “I would say it was way more than successful. It was knocked out of the park, I’d say.”

Stover said from her understanding, Kamp for Kids started with the Boy Scouts and Salvation Army partnering together. She said troop 69 still plays a big part in picking up food from the rural communities.

Stover herself was involved in Kamp for Kids as a parent as her sons were in Boy Scouts and for the last four year she’s been involved on the Salvation Army side of it.

“It is the one of the biggest fundraisers, minus the kettles, that we have within a year in Martin County. It’s very, very important to the sustainability of the food shelf,” Stover said.

Last year, donations sustained the food shelf for almost four months. Stover said she usually spends about $1,000 a month on food for the food shelf.

“When that isn’t needed for those four months, I can allocate that money to other programs such as rental assistance, car repairs, utility assistance and things like that. It doesn’t just help the food shelf, it also helps all other programs,” Stover said of donations.

Stover recalled that one year they received over 4,500 pounds of food. She said this year they received about 3,200 pounds of food donations.

In addition to that, Stover said they also received about 300 pounds of toys.

“We see roughly 50 to 100 families a month. That’s a lot of households getting help from his one food drive,” Stover said.

She also shared that the Salvation Army is in desperate need of bell ringers this year.

“Without bell ringer, those kettles sit empty,” Stover said.

She said last year was the first year that they saw a decline in volunteers, likely due to the pandemic. She said if people are younger or vaccinated and without health concerns, they should consider volunteering.

If anyone has food or toys they’d like to donate to the Salvation Army, Stover said they’re accepted year-round. One of the Salvation Army’s motto is “need knows no season.”

However, the drive is held around the holidays each year for a reason.

“Everybody wants to give back at Christmas,” said Stover.

People can send checks or drop off donations at the Salvation Army store, located at 303 Downtown Plaza in Fairmont.