MILTON — The Salvation Army isn’t just about bell ringing during the holidays. They have many programs they offer year-round according to Lieutenant Jennifer Burke, pastor at the Milton Salvation Army Chapter, “We have kids programs that run year-round, after school programs for kids, on Tuesdays and Thursdays we have music, and badge programs that they can take part in.”
An upcoming Plunge into the Susquehanna River will help offset the costs of those programs, according to organizer Joel Harris, who is community coordinator for the Salvation Army, “It costs about $350 per kid, just to go to camp. We charge little to nothing because we try to target that group that can’t afford to go to camps. This allows us to continue funding for our local corps to send those kids.”
Harris said they came up with the idea four years ago for the jump in the chilly river, “We thought what can we do to help those in need for the kids. If we don’t help the kids, what are they going to be doing when they are older. This is where we came up with the idea, that we can help to offset some of those costs for what we do for all those kids, who don’t have jobs, who can’t pay for the things that they would like to do as kids.”
Harris continued, “This was something interesting that we figured is already kind of done in the area but we tried to pick up the capacity a little bit and do it in Milton, because they don’t really have something this interesting.”
This year, Eric McDowell of the Milton Rotary Club will be plunging in the river. He talked about his support for the Salvation Army, “Actually my roots with the Salvation Army go pretty deep. My grandfather was an officer in West Sunbury. For many years he gave up his Thanksgivings donating turkeys and preparing turkeys for the community meals. He was a bell ringer for many years. We have family roots within the Salvation Army.”
The Milton Salvation Army’s 4th Annual Take the Plunge event is Saturday January 28th at the Fort Boone Campground in Milton. You can find information on their Facebook page.
