MORGANTOWN — For 40 years, The Salvation Army has been receiving an anonymous donation of $1,000 every year at Christmastime, according to Lieutenant Sheldon Greenland. He was ecstatic to receive the thousand dollar bill in cash in the donation bucket in front of the University Town Centre Wal-mart Saturday afternoon.
“We’re just so grateful to be the recipients of this wonderful gift every single year for 40 years, that’s amazing,” he said.
Greenland said he has no idea who the donor is. All he knows is when the donation is going to come, and that’s it.
“We have no idea who it is, that’s amazing,” he said.
The donation will go into a different bucket every time. He said The Salvation Army is so thankful for the yearly gift, which allows the organization to help the community.
The money donated to The Salvation Army goes back into their programs. Greenland said they sponsor a feeding program, social services, and Pathway of Hope which helps people break the cycle of poverty.
“All the money that’s raised in our Christmas kettles goes in to support all of our programs that run throughout the year,” he said.
Greenland said this year The Salvation Army has a target of $300,000 dollars for its Christmas kettles, as well as other Christmastime donations. Last year they raised around $235,000.
“We’re not there yet, but the people of Morgantown, Marion County, Preston County have given quite a bit so we’re very grateful for what we receive and whatever we receive goes right back into the community,” he said.
Greenland and his wife Nicole are the commanding officers for The Salvation Army in Monongalia, Marion and Preston Counties. He said it’s a wonderful blessing to have people to so willing to donate their money to The Salvation Army.
“It makes our job a little bit easier. Because the more the community supports what we do we can just turn around and help other people as well,” he said.
Greenland wanted to thank the people of the community who supported the Angel Tree Program where gifts are donated to children who have signed up. He said pretty much every single child registered received exactly what he or she asked for.
“The people of the community have been awesome and they’ve consistently been giving and we’re just so grateful. We just thank God that we’re able to have a community that gives back like they do,” he said.
