Thank you letters: Salvation Army grateful for donations

We wanted to thank the people of Curry and Roosevelt counties who graciously supported The Salvation Army during the holiday season and throughout the year. Through your help, we were able to assist 723 children with Christmas gifts and clothing, as well as 411 families with a Christmas food box.

The Salvation Army faces new and difficult challenges every year to raise funds necessary to support our efforts in area communities. This year was no different.

A recent letter published in the Clovis News Journal spoke about the poor image that some of our kettle standers portrayed during the Christmas season. Carla Hammar was absolutely right in her evaluation. We had a few good standers, and several who did not represent The Salvation Army in an appropriate manner.

Many of you may have noticed that as Christmas approached we had fewer and fewer kettles out. We felt that no representation at that point was better than poor representation.

During this next year, we intend to continue building trust and integrity to the Salvation Army of Clovis. We would like to foster relationships with volunteer groups, business groups, churches, clubs, teams and others so that next year we can ask those groups to help us to raise the money that is needed and to help present The salvation Army in the cheerful, hopeful manner that personifies who we try to be.

We are available to speak to your groups, and share our vision and philosophies with you.

We want to thank all of the area businesses that helped us with our fund-raising. All of you were wonderful partners.

Finally, thank you to the citizens of Curry and Roosevelt Counties for supporting the work of The Salvation Army.

Salvation Army Capts. Kevin and Tammy Ray of Clovis

Bazaar donations warm heart

From the warmth of my heart, I wanted to thank the event staff from Cannon Air Force Base’s Christmas Bazaar, as well as all the vendors who participated in the event late last year.

I accidentally dropped my money at this event. When I realized this, I informed the staff. I was very upset, because that was all the money I had for my son and myself for the next two weeks. The staff made an announcement of the lost money. They encouraged me to “have faith in people,” as I waited to see if anyone had found my money.

Two honest women informed us the money had been found and given to a vendor. Unfortunately, the vendor had already given the money to an individual claiming it to be their own. I was unable to get my money back. But two kind-hearted event staff members took my information and donated $20 to help me out. I was grateful for all their help that day.

A surprise phone call the next afternoon led me back to the bazaar. I was overwhelmed with love and warmth from the event staff and many vendors. Each had donated money and some gifts.

The donations compensated my loss.

It was truly a blessing of love and kindness. I was able to thank most of these wonderful people who donated. I am very grateful. God bless each of you. This blessing experience was a perfect example of the holiday spirit and the “gift of giving.”

Colina Tiner

Portales