A Gift of Gratitude: A Donor's Story of Giving Back
This past Christmas season, The Salvation Army was hard at work doing the most good for our community in Lawrence, Kansas. From providing over 250 winter coats to help our neighbors face the harsh cold Midwest winters to providing over 1900 Christmas gifts to 147 families in the community—it was a busy holiday season.
In addition to all our Christmas programs, our volunteers and staff were hard at work ringing bells at the Red Kettles to raise funds that allow us to continue helping our neighbors year-round. During this fundraising season, we received an unexpected and generous gift.
A remarkable $20,000 donation was brought to our attention. While we are fortunate to have many generous donors, what made this gift unique was that it came from someone out of state and was specifically designated for our corps community center in Lawrence, Kansas. The donor, Kahrn McClure from Texas, shared a heartwarming story about how The Salvation Army in Lawrence once helped her in a time of need.
In the 1960s, Kahrn was in her early 20s, recently divorced, and raising her young son as a single mother. After the divorce, she moved back to her hometown of Lawrence for a short while to live with her mother. Struggling to make ends meet, she turned to The Salvation Army for help.
“During that time, The Salvation Army helped me a lot,” Kahrn recalled. “They gave us Christmas presents that year; they gave me baby clothes and food… They were just really good to me.”
Even 60 years later, Kahrn still remembers the love and support she received from the Lawrence Corps. “The Salvation Army was really good to me during a time in my life when I really needed it. I had extra (money) this year, so I decided it should go to Lawrence,” she said.
This story serves as a powerful reminder, that the small, everyday needs that are met in our corps community centers daily, are making lasting impacts on people’s lives. Lt. Landon McClintock, the corps officer of the Lawrence Corps, expressed his gratitude: “We are deeply grateful to Kahrn for her generous donation, which will allow us to continue serving and supporting those in need—just as The Salvation Army was able to do for her all those years ago.”
We look forward to seeing how this generous act of giving back, will serve the people of Lawrence this year.