NILES — Despite braving frigid winter temperatures and enduring long hours, volunteer bell ringers with the Niles Salvation Army’s Red Kettle Campaign fell short on their fundraising goal.

Bell ringers raised $47,000 out of a $115,000 goal, falling short about $68,000. While the bell ringers are gone, the need for community members to donate remains. 

The funds raised help to pay for the Niles Salvation Army’s operational budget, which covers a number of expenditures and programs that the charity organization makes available to the Cass County and south Berrien County communities.

Niles Salvation Army Lt. Joseph Hixenbaugh said if their goal cannot be reached by the end of the month, then organization leaders will likely have to look at limiting program hours. 

“[This funding] is something that lasts us all year round and provides 70 percent of our budget and that is pretty big,” Hixenbaugh said. “A $68,000 shortfall means less families that we can help.”

He said programs that may take a hit could include the food pantry, which is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and offers groceries to those in need up to four times per year. Other programs that may have to be slimmed back include the Lunch Bunch program, which offers free lunch services to residents three times a week and the rental assistance program.

This year, organization leaders had planned to expand the Feeding His Sheep Program, which supplies children in need with backpacks full of food for the weekend, into Dowagiac schools. Thanks to an anonymous donor, Hixenbaugh said that for now program officials should still be able to do that.

To his knowledge, Hixenbaugh said he believed that the Niles Salvation Army has usually made its Christmas goal, making this year somewhat of an outlier.

“It was a down year, it is not normal for the Salvation Army here in Niles to see this type of thing [shortage],” Hixenbaugh said.

A lack of volunteers was a major factor in this year’s shortage on the fundraising goal. The organization planned on having about 56 volunteers at 14 locations out ringing bells from Nov. 10 to Dec. 23, across Berrien and Cass counties. However, this year, there were only about 15 volunteers that stepped up to help, with some of the staff, including Tim Douglas, the coordinator of volunteer services filling in where needed.

“We did raise a lot with what we had, but it is definitely not enough to offset the lull,” Hixenbaugh said. “We can never tell what the big reason is as to why we were down in totals. Sometimes the economy is also a factor.”

To combat future issues, Hixenbaugh said they hope to start raising awareness and searching for volunteers earlier in the year and continuing to assess the best locations for bell ringers to be posted at.

Hixenbaugh encouraged people to donate what they can to help the Niles Salvation Army reach its $115,000 goal.

“The beauty about the Salvation Army is that all funding stays here in Niles and the surrounding communities to help for the need here,” Hixenbaugh said. “It provides a way to help your fellow man in the community. If we don’t make our goal, it will be harder to address the needs of the community.”

Those wishing to help can send in a cash or check to the Niles Salvation Army at P.O. Box 996, Niles, MI 49120. People are also welcome to drop donations off at the Niles Salvation Army’s office, 424 N. 15th St. in Niles. An online option is also available for donation at saniles.org.