Salvation Army seeing significant drop in donations due to Canada Post strike

The Salvation Army says its donations are down 50 per cent compared to last year, due to the Canada Post work stoppage.

Glenn van Gulik, the divisional secretary for public relations with charity, tells CTV News Ottawa they haven’t been able to receive mail-in donations or send out their donation appeals since Nov. 15, when the strike began.

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“That's preventing individuals from receiving the direct mail that they're so used to at this time of the year,” he said. “Also it's preventing individuals from actually sending their mail back to us with that cheque. This strike couldn't have come at a worse time for The Salvation Army.”

November and December account for roughly 65 per cent of the organization’s fundraising every year, when the spirit of giving is in the air.

“The strike is having a dramatic impact, preventing all those funds from coming in to support the work at The Salvation Army,” van Gulik continued.

The lack of mail-in donations has put more importance on The Salvation Army’s other methods of fundraising, like their signature kettles, set up in malls and grocery stores over the holidays.

Brockville, Ont. resident John Agnew has been volunteering with the charity for 10 years.

“I love doing it. And I love meeting people,” he said. “It's great to have donations for people that are less fortunate than ourselves.”

Donations are also accepted at Salvationarmy.ca or over the phone at 1-800-SAL-ARMY.

Union steps back on wage demand: report

More than 55,000 Canada Post employees across the country have been striking for over three weeks.

On Monday, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) reportedly dropped its wage demands to 19 per cent over four years and dropped the demand to merge the urban and rural bargaining units.