With Christmas upon us this Saturday, many organizations are making final pushes to collect donations of food, clothing, toys and other items to help people.
Haverhill Lions Club member Tony Pecci was a guest on WHAV’s morning show last week and talked about the success the club experienced during last month’s VFW Santa Parade in Haverhill.
“First I want to thank the citizens of Haverhill for the great support, and I’m going to solely say it was because of the last interview I had in November with you (over WHAV), and we were doing an eyeglass collection during the VFW Santa Parade. It was a last-minute effort on our part and, because of you letting us come on and do the interview, we collected close to 100 pair of eyeglasses on our route,” he said.
Pecchi says the eyeglasses are in the process of being cleaned, sanitized and coded and will be distributed to other countries. The Lions Club collects used eyewear, and sunglasses, year-round at Maria’s Restaurant on Essex Street in downtown Haverhill, the Citizens Center on Welcome Street and at the Haverhill Public Library. The Lions are also conducting a soup, and Ramen Noodle, drive until the end of December, along with a gently used winter coat drive, until Jan. 8 at Maria’s Restaurant.
Also recently appearing on WHAV’s morning show was Major Walter Rivers of the Salvation Army at 395 Main St., in Haverhill, reminding people that Red Kettles will be out through the week, and they can take more than cash.
“We have QR codes for donations, we also have online giving. If you go on SalvationArmyMA.org they are on the website, there’s a place to give and options to give. At the majority of the kettle stands there are the codes for Apple Pay, for Venmo, for Google Pay. We are making all of those options available to folks who don’t carry cash. Contactless giving has really increased over the last couple of years. We want to make sure people can feel comfortable giving to the Salvation Army during the holidays, and throughout the year.”
Rivers says volunteers are still needed for the Salvation Army’s Red Kettles, in addition to helping with the food pantry and soup kitchen.