THE Salvation Army is in need of a commercial stove to prepare meals for the almost 200 needy persons who depend on the service.
The Army has to find around $67 000 to replace the appliance, according to a quotation from a local supplier.
Yesterday, as the Army launched its 2017 Christmas Kettle drive, at Jubilee Gardens, The City, Chairman of the Army’s Advisory Board, Paul Bernstein, pleaded with businesses or philanthropists, to make a contribution towards purchasing a new stove.
“We are really asking for anyone who can help us in this effort to please assist. About 160 people depend on us for meals. There are people who come to us and then we have those who cannot get to us so we have to take the meals to them,” Bernstein said.
He said professionals who were called in to look at the ten-year-old stove to see if can be repaired informed the Army’s management that it cannot be restored.
In the meantime, he said the past two months has been a difficult period for the members of the kitchen staff who have had to find alternative means of preparing the daily meals.
“We can’t get parts for it. We tried to get parts but they said it is out-dated. It is tedious. The cooks go the extra mile not to have a delay and we are very pleased with that.
“But at the end of the day, the staff can’t go on like that. We have to be mindful that Christmas is coming up and at that time of the year we do a lot of feeding,” he said. (AH)