TOLEDO, Ohio — Families in need across Lucas County can get some help this Christmas thanks to the Salvation Army of Greater Toledo.
Each year the Salvation Army of Greater Toledo extends a helping hand by offering Christmas Assistance.
Right now, thousands of families in Lucas County are faced with not being able to have the perfect holiday for their little ones.
The organization is accepting its 2021 Christmas Assistance applications and has extended the deadline to Oct. 29 at 4:30 p.m.
"It has been so tough on so many across several months now. What we're able to do is to (not only) provide toys for children between the ages of infant and 12 years, but we're also able to give them a gift card to a local Kroger store so they can purchase the food that they want on their Christmas table that day," Major Duperree said.
Since COVID-19 hit, the application process is all online to keep families safe. A side benefit, Duperree said, is having everything online has made it a smoother process for both families and the organization.
The pandemic has also made the need for holiday assistance even greater. He said the past year and a half has been hard on thousands of families in the area and the Salvation Army expects to see numbers reflecting that for assistance this year.
"We're expecting more based simply upon the numbers we've seen throughout the calendar year. Two years ago we helped 1,500 families. Last year we helped 2,700 families and of those 2,700 families, there were a total of 11,500 individuals, and 9,500 of them being children," he said.
The application process only takes a couple of minutes, according to Duperree. All families need is the internet and a valid email address.
Those interested in assistance must be Lucas County residents and have their applications filled out by the end of business on Friday, Oct. 29.
Families wanting to apply can go here.
Duperree says a majority of the funding for Christmas assistance comes from their Red Kettle bell campaigns. We will start to see those around the county in November.