Salvation Army in matching grant drive

The Salvation Army is breaking out its red kettles this weekend for a rare post-Christmas donation drive in the Twin Cities.

Spokeswoman Annette Bauer said CenterPoint Energy offered a $30,000, three-for-one matching grant for the Salvation Army's Heat Share heating assistance program.

She said the service agency received requests for help from 40,000 families last year but could give assistance to only 4,200. Bauer said the recent cold snap has made the need even more urgent.

"We've got this huge offer," she said. "That's a big amount of money. We're only looking at six hours. Hopefully, the public will be OK with us being out there. We were so thrilled that Cub said absolutely, this is a great cause."

Bauer added: "CenterPoint Energy also came to the table with, 'We're going to give you volunteers, we're going to give you bell ringers.' So we've got the employees from CenterPoint ringing, along with some of our volunteers, so we're hoping to make that $10,000."

The kettles will be at 37 Cub food locations around the Twin Cities from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.

Bauer said that a recent surge in donations helped make up a shortfall in the Salvation Army's annual holiday donation drive. Mail contributions put the agency a million dollars over its $9.8 million goal.

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