Hundreds of families will receive a sizeable contribution toward their Christmas groceries, courtesy of the Salvation Army.
On Tuesday, dozens of people lined up outside the headquarters of the Salvation Army on Henry Street in Port of Spain to receive hampers.
Divisional Director of the Women’s Ministries, Major Rhonda Matthias, shared more on the distribution.
“At this location today, we’ll be giving out six hundred huge hampers, but at other locations there’ll be other distributions across the island and in Tobago. This is the first day. We will distribute again on Thursday. However, we did have our children’s Christmas party on Saturday past, where we catered for approximately 200 children and parents.”
Major Matthias said one thousand hampers will be distributed to needy families for the 2025 Christmas season.
“We are aware that we’re facing difficult times, and this year we’ve seen a greater demand for the hampers. We are still trying to understand what happened this year. We have put it down to what’s happening in the economy, but for our registration this year there was a huge demand, and we could not, we could not meet it.”
One of the recipients of a hamper, Rosalind Mohammed, said she has four members in her household and expressed her gratitude.
“Well, it putting food on my table. I am blessed, and I want to bless here too and bless the giver that giving us the hamper.”
Another recipient, Hazel Turner, said she also has four people in her household.
“This is my first time, so all I can say is thanks to God and thanks to the people and bless them and thanks for this Christmas, this lovely Christmas gift from the people and management and staff.”
The Salvation Army in Port of Spain has a long-standing tradition of distributing Christmas hampers, a practice tied to its global Christmas Kettle Appeal, funded by community donations and corporate partners like the Coosal Group.