this is the weekly on click Orlando
dot-com with Justin warmoth good morning
I'm Justin Moore myth hope you're having
a great holiday weekend
well Christmas now less than a month
away and as you head out to shop for
your loved ones you have the opportunity
to brighten the holidays for a child or
senior in need new six is proud to once
again partner up with the Salvation Army
for the Angel Tree campaign this morning
captain Ken Chapman is here to talk all
about the program and the impact it has
on thousands of lives
captain Chapman thank you so much for
joining us this morning to talk about
the Angel Tree program we're always so
excited to get involved and to help out
these families first off though I want
to tell our viewers a little bit more
about your background you are new to
Orlando new to Salvation Army in Orlando
but you're not new to the Salvation Army
tell us about your background well I
actually am a fourth-generation
Salvation estai was born and raised in
the Salvation Army Church and been
involved in all the social services
through my whole life I was a high
school band director and I also own my
own company for 20 years I produced live
shows for TV I was one of the producers
for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic ceremonies
and in 92 in Barcelona Spain so I sat in
green rooms for the wreath Franklin and
Liza Minnelli so I had a crazy life all
along I was involved with the Salvation
Army and all the things we did and about
10 years ago later in life the Lord
called my wife and I in the full-time
ministry service I make less money never
thought of making my life it's the
hardest job I've ever had but when I can
look in the eye and tell you for this I
was created it's all good so what was
the previous city
you and your wife lived and worked we
came from Tulsa Oklahoma and June and
it's a big difference between Tulsa
Orlando how do you feel about Orlando so
far
Orlando is an amazing city except for
the traffic well the traffic is bad but
the the people in this community are
caring it's a very diverse community and
we are having a ball and we are really
off to a nice start with the Angel Tree
program tell us a bit about how many
angels were trying to get adopted and we
have something new this year as well
with with the seniors we're helping out
as well we have 35
five hundred children that we're trying
to get filled for this year I have no
doubt that's going to happen because
already you know with the holiday season
kicked off already we have we're almost
about thirty five percent of the goal
and that's good for this early in this
market and then this year we decided we
wanted to add our senior citizens so we
have five hundred we're starting off
with this year I anticipate next year
we'll double that but five hundred
seniors who kind of feel forgotten
left alone to feel like they're not
productive or no one cares anymore
so we feel that if we give them and
we've done this in other appointments
and the look on their faces and the
appreciation they show when they receive
a pair of slippers and a little gift
card to buy their Christmas dinner what
an amazing experience that is I hope you
get to see that I absolutely do when we
talk about the children and these
families that we are helping out tell us
about their way of life and what they're
going through on a daily basis a lot of
these families have to decide whether or
not to feed their kids or give them
gifts under the tree am i right there
are some very sad stories and we go
through the vetting process you know to
qualify to make sure that they're
eligible for all the donations that are
brought in we hear a lot of
heartbreaking stories you're right
sometimes they're choosing do I feed my
kids today they'll get the flat tire fix
because what may be a barrier to you and
I it's not really a barrier it's just
hiccup you know we wake up we have a
flat tire well we call triple-a to get a
fix but the people we serve don't have
that option and that's the difference
between going to work or not and maybe
losing their job so that becomes major
barriers so for us to be able to have
this program that can help them overcome
that and let them know that their
children will be taken care of and that
someone cares and what that does it
gives them the motivation to take a step
further people have lost their direction
find a way their hope is renewed and it
happens because of all the donations
it's not the Salvation Army we're just a
conduit it's the people who give that
may their I call it the army behind the
army that's a good way to put it the
appreciation on their faces to really
tells you what kind of a weight this is
off their shoulders we do another
further the children aren't allowed to
come to distribution a of course but we
have several days later we have what we
call the community Carol's saying at our
community center and we invite the
mothers and the fathers to bring their
children and we were going to throw a
big party for them to let them know that
Christmas is great we'll have a Santa
Claus with a sleigh so they get their
pictures taken with Santa because they
can't afford it in the mall well every
child will leave with the toy filled
stocking and it's just a time to let
them know you know you're not alone
somebody cares and you're not by
yourself
so let's talk about these tags again
there's one for senior and then there's
one for a child in need they have a gift
Wish this this gentleman tied REE has
his gift wish is a tablet it also has
their shirt pants shoe size as well so
if someone picks up a tag are they do
you guys want them to try their best to
get everything on this on this angel and
whether or not they can is that it is
that a big deal
no no what you need to do when you adopt
your angel is first of all you get the
choice right now especially there's
plenty of choices let's see what you
can't afford now just because a child
puts a tablet down doesn't mean you feel
obligated to buy ten if you can't afford
that that's awesome but you know people
children that are poor have the same
desires as children who aren't so if you
can fulfill that need that's wonderful
but don't feel that pressure I think
ideally if you can give some kind of a
toy or something like the tablet a set
of clothing and some shoes and a book
that's the perfect angel that way they
wake up with something they can use it
will help them in their life and and
that's the the way I try to do when I
die but don't feel I don't want anyone
to feel pressured I've got to get this
tablet or I have to get a computer only
if you can afford that how nice is doing
something like this say if you have
little ones at home and you want to
teach them the meaning of the season
when you when you go out this would be a
great way to spend an afternoon with
your family this is one of the best ways
to teach your children what the holidays
are all about and so when you take your
child out and you help
they'll get involved in the process
usually the child want to pick someone
their age a boy I want to pick a boy and
let them go shopping
and it's even better if you include them
like we really use part of your
allowance or one of the toys you would
have gotten for Christmas we're gonna do
that children would then grow up knowing
that there are people who are hurting in
the world and the fact that they can
reach their hand out and care about
somebody that's what makes life worth
living and a lot of families do that and
we're very very grateful for that
there's so funny I was going through the
because we have a tree here and if you
maybe feel jobs yeah we all we have a
tree with with the angel tags on there
and it was funny because the gift wish
was electric razor and to menu that
might be an electric razor right that is
not what the child the ten-year-old is
asking for that was an electric razor
scooter so hopefully you have some kids
to help you out and sort through but if
you don't just google it maybe that'll
reveal some things homelessness child
homelessness is such a problem when you
guys around the holidays you really get
a sense of how many kids in Central
Florida and around the country are
homeless right you know the average age
of homelessness in America
take a guess just take a guess I mean
we're talking about kids maybe twelve
thirteen nine years nine years nine it
means a lot of children are living in
cars a lot of children are living with
relatives or in shelters we have 300
beds every single night of the year that
are filled in shelter almost a thousand
meals a day are served in our shelters
and on any given night there will be at
least 30 to 40 children in our shelter
who are homeless most of them almost all
of them are with a mother or father but
some of them are not some of the older
ones are not so we have a responsibility
to take them off the street and help
them orlando's weather is beautiful
there are three cities in America that
you can go to with nothing and by the
end of the day have a job loss at Las
Vegas Los Angeles in Orlando the
hospitality industry the problem is
there's no affordable housing and that
is the biggest problem that we're stress
in Central Florida but the the Orange
County government and the Osceola
government is trying really hard to come
up with solutions and I salute them
because they're working very diligently
on this so we want to in the meantime
the emergency services are needed and we
will always have our doors open to
homeless children and mothers and
fathers coming up we'll have more
details on the Angel Tree campaign and
some of the other ways the Salvation
Army helps out the Central Florida
community keep it here
this is the weekly on click Orlando
dot-com with Justin warmoth welcome back
this morning we're talking all about the
Angel Tree campaign where we team up
with the Salvation Army to make sure
children and seniors who are less
fortunate have a special Christmas
morning captain Ken Chapman is back now
with more details on how you can get
involved when they pick it up at a
location we have several and we'll show
you those locations right now as we as
we go around and people start to pick
out their locations you must return
those angels to that same location
explain that process well when when we
put a tag on a tree and you take that
tag off and put it in your jacket pocket
well meaning to go shopping then in our
books that angel is adopted so we cross
that off the list okay that's in then we
only have 2000 morning right right so
it's very important that you return it
to the same place so we can verify it
was adopted and it was returned that way
we can keep the Academy then when it
goes to the toy shop we call it the joy
Center we have volunteers that go
through the bags to make sure it's
age-appropriate sex appropriate and then
they seal it up ready for distribution
now sometimes everybody wants to buy for
a 5 year old girl Barbies pink clothes
it's easy yeah it's very difficult our
most difficult donations are the 10 to
12 year old boys especially what do you
buy 10 to 12 year old boy so those are
difficult we always have that need but
sometimes the the 5 year old kid may get
a big bag of stuff and the 7 year old
boy gets a toy so we take from other
stock and we we never tell
away from what the donor is given but we
supplement a little bit more so that
brother doesn't think Santa Claus loves
his sister more than him the South Pole
is what we were referring to
distribution day when all those gifts
come out the parents come and pick them
up that process it's a well-oiled
machine and it has to be we have some
final video that we're showing right now
yet that that process and going through
all of those toys is that something that
you're looking forward to yeah our staff
right now until Christmas Eve are
working literally 14 to 18 hour days
we're not whining about that because we
live for that and we're we're honored
that we have that opportunity and our
community makes that available but that
that that is the end result after you
put all of those hours in and volunteers
who didn't show up to help on certain
days and you have to pull an extra shift
to make it happen
that day when we see the look on the
mothers and the fathers faces those
that's what makes those hours worth it
and we get to see that you don't get
this you you might get to see it because
you're covering it and let me take
chantix is amazing and what you're doing
for us but we get to see those faces and
it makes it all worth it and trust me
they are very very grateful awesome
volunteers are needed though and I know
you have volunteers working around the
clock but more are needed right yes in
our angel tree for sorting through the
bags and making sure it's all put
together properly and for our red
kettles that are gonna be out in earnest
you know they're out since since Black
Friday we've been ringing those bells
and we need volunteers to help with that
there are 80 locations in Osceola and
Orange and ten our they're 10-hour days
and so there's 27 days do the math
that's a lot of our Sun covers yeah so
we do pay some people to do it but we
need volunteers and that helps on every
level and it makes our job easier and
you get to be enriched with your
Christmas experience the red kettles new
this year people can insert their debit
cards as well we have come into the 21st
century no cash no problem yeah I've
rung bales all my life we've been
ringing bales for
twenty-eight years in America not me but
in the Salvation Army and when I'm
ringing bells I see the people walk by
they won't have eye contact they feel
guilty other look I do the same thing
when I go to Walmart yeah you know the
Girl Scouts are selling cookies
sometimes and so we have this Wow have
any cash people say this year with 50 of
our locations no cash no problem it's
called a dip jar and it's safe and
secure Cellular is it goes to the cloud
so we can't get your information dip
your card in pull it out it's a three
dollar donation and we're hoping that's
gonna boost our kettles this year
because that's a new way so no cash no
problem I like that I know I will be
donating more with that because I rarely
if ever have cash sometimes I'm going
through my car trying to find you know
some change to put in there because or
you just go in and you bring the cash
out either way but nonetheless it's a
great it's so important to donate to the
red kettles you guys also just helped
out a lot of people for the Thanksgiving
holiday so yes thanks to the generosity
of Golden Corral in Eric home who has a
heart bigger than this city we have
served over 25 thousand meals for
Thanksgiving wow what an incredible
thing now I was bragging in other
appointments that we serve five thousand
meals and they come to Orlando as well
we do twenty five thousand and this past
Thursday that happened and it was it's
just amazing it's probably the biggest
in the country there's a reason people
move here and I know they moved here for
the weather and and that theme parks and
I get that but the generosity and and
the good-natured heart of a lot of these
Central Floridians is there yeah I
thought Tulsa was a very philanthropic
City it is but here there's such a
diversity the whole world lives here
it's so international in the diversity
and the rich cultural heritage at this
place has because you know often Bragg
said that Florida is not even the
southern state
it truly is but there's so many people
have migrated from so many different
places but it makes such an abuse and
because there's a lot of extreme poverty
because of a
lot of issues that we don't have time to
discuss now they are aware of the acute
poverty of people and you know this is
the most magical place on earth so some
of its built on fantasy and so the
reality is there are people who are
making that fantasy work who can't even
afford to live so we're fortunate that
we can stand in the gap and help those
people get on their feet a hand up not a
handout and and Channel six again I
can't thank you all enough for what
you're doing you you make this possible
we'd love to be involved in it every
year I know that the Salvation Army gets
a lot of pub and we go to you guys a lot
during the holidays that's when the
spotlight is on the Salvation Army
however the work does not stop so
donating goods is something you guys are
looking for on a year year long base
yeah we have a saying need knows no
season right so 365 days a year
319 elderly and disabled live on our
property for next to nothing and HUD
sponsored apartments we feed over a
thousand meals a day to the homeless
three hundred beds are filled every
night we have a hundred and fifty
at-risk children that come to our
Community Center four times a week for
music and sports and character building
and life skills and that's happening on
a regular basis social services helping
people with rent and utilities to keep
them from being homelessness homeless
and that happens every single day we
have not been telling that story and I
believe if we get that story out people
know everyday that's what we're doing
quietly to make this a better place to
live I don't think fundraising would be
a problem and this coming Tuesday is
giving Tuesday so in light of that we'll
be hosting an all-day Angel Tree phone
Bank we did this last year and with your
help we raised more than sixteen
thousand dollars we're hoping to beat
that this year we have more information
on that and everything else Angel Tree
related on click Orlando comm slash
weekly
I'm Justin warmoth have a great Sunday
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