Due to a $50,000 budget shortfall, the Salvation Army could face closure until its next fundraising drive, which will pick up again around Christmas.

The bulk of the Salvation Army’s income comes from the Red Kettle Campaign, which runs during the Christmas season, said Kamace Priest, president of the Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary.

“Giving was down,” she said. “We had two big donors that were unable to give this year, which caused a tremendous budget shortfall for us. We depend on that money to pay our bills throughout the year and also to support our various programs.”

Priest said the Salvation Army currently has $10,000 in the budget that they need to last until the next Red Kettle campaign. They need about $60,000 total to last the rest of the year.

“We’ve got various programs going on right now: the soccer camp for the kids, 50–75 kids we feed three snacks and a lunch and Triumph Church runs Bible study in the afternoon,” she said. “Basically we try to give kids a safe place to be throughout the day. A lot of them don’t have an adult at home throughout the day, so this is just somewhere they can go where they’ll have adult supervision and food throughout the day.”

The Salvation Army provides emergency assistance programs such as rent, utility, clothing and furniture and emergency disaster services including personal care kits, bottled water, donations of clothing and furnishings, spiritual counseling and emotional support.

Emergency food assistance is provided via the Salvation Army’s food pantry and the Mission 66 Diner, which serves hot lunches every weekday.

The Salvation Army offers a number of youth programs for children such as after-school programs, tutoring, organized recreation, summer camps and character-building groups.

During the holidays, the Salvation Army sponsors the Angel Tree program and a holiday emergency assistance program.

Captain Srikant Bhatnagar said the Salvation Army is very important for the community.

“It makes a difference in the lives of people,” he said. “If we can change one or two lives, it means our program is very successful.”

Board President Danny Jones said operations will not be able to continue without additional funding.

“Worst case scenario, it will shut down,” he said. “We can’t work without funds.”

The Salvation Army has shut down once before six or seven years ago, Jones said.

“We would have to shut it down and just sort of shutter it until we do the Christmas kettle campaign,” he said. “We’ve got money for certain things, but we don’t have money for light bills and help and so forth.”

To donate to the Salvation Army send a check to 530 Mission 66, Vicksburg, MS 39183, or to make a donation online, visit www.salvationarmyalm.org/vicksburg.

The Salvation Army also accepts donations of clothing, shoes and furniture to sell in its thrift store. Old, unusable clothing goes into bales, which the Salvation Army is able to sell as well.