Give A Little, Change A Lot: The Army Launches a Summer Campaign to Reach the Whole Community
by Lt. Colonel Debra Ashcraft, Territorial Secretary for Business Administration
When Captain Kelly Ross, corps officer in Utica, New York, along with corps youth and adults, hands out free ice cream as part of the Utica Corps’ Ice Cream Cart Ministry, she’s doing more than handing out free scoops. She’s introducing her neighbors to The Salvation Army. “People see the cart, they see the shield, and they stop,” Captain Kelly says. “And that’s when the conversation, and our ministry, starts.”
Thanks to a new territory-wide initiative, the Give A Little, Change A Lot Summer Community Campaign — running from National Salvation Army Week through July 31, 2026 — more conversations like this will be happening in communities across the Eastern Territory this summer.
Five Goals, One Mission
With corps experiencing an increased demand for services and with rising operating costs adding significant financial pressure, The Salvation Army urgently needs to strengthen its fundraising ministry. The Give A Little, Change A Lot campaign addresses this challenge directly, focusing on five goals:
- Increasing awareness of programs and services that meet real local needs.
- Inviting the community to partner with us in mission, including individuals, churches, businesses, and service clubs.
- Promoting engagement of corps officers, junior and senior soldiers, advisory board members, and volunteers, all working together in the ministry of fundraising.
- Enhancing digital fundraising to set the stage for a successful Christmas Virtual Red Kettle Campaign this year and beyond.
- Raising funds to support all 333 corps in the Eastern Territory.
To support the fundraising component, Territorial Headquarters will match digital donations up to $1,000 per corps from May 11 through July 31. Corps are encouraged to recruit donors and businesses to match as well.
Why a Community Campaign in Summer?
One of the biggest challenges The Salvation Army faces is that many people are unaware of the services we provide all year round. As Captain Bramwell Applin, Area Coordinator for Summit County Area Services in Ohio, puts it: “We do Christmas really well. People know what we do at Christmas and they support us at that time. But when we talk to local groups about everything else The Salvation Army does throughout the year, we hear the same thing at the end of every single meeting: ‘We didn’t know The Salvation Army did all those things you just talked about!’”
The summer community campaign is designed with this reality in mind. Every corps chooses its own fundraising cause — food assistance, emergency shelter, summer and after-school activities for kids, services for seniors — and its own fundraising methods. A campaign toolkit provides a wealth of ideas for community engagement and fundraising.
The campaign also promotes an aggressive push into digital fundraising. Each corps will receive a unique QR code linking donors directly to a localized giving page, where they can contribute by credit card, PayPal, Venmo, and other digital methods — a simple scan from a poster or social media post is all it takes.
Moving Forward in Faith
The “Give A Little, Change A Lot” campaign is not just a fundraising initiative — it is a call to collective action in support of our mission. Simply put, it’s about helping all corps to thrive.
Ephesians 3:20–21 reminds us: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.”
Corps can access customizable campaign assets, QR codes, and the full Campaign Toolkit through the USE Portal at usaeast.sharepoint.com.
