Thrift Store Closures A Major Revenue Hit For Salvation Army Ministries
HALIFAX — The Maritime locations of the Salvation Army are having to get “creative” with their programming as COVID-19 has forced them to abandon one of their main sources of revenue.
On March 18, the organization made the decision to shut down all its thrift stores in response to the growing COVID-19 pandemic.
“These have been challenging days for us, as they have been for many,” said Jamie Locke, who represents the Salvation Army’s Maritime Division.
The decision was significant not just because of the tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of goods Salvation Army thrift stores gave away in the Maritimes last year.
In Canada, the money the Salvation Army makes at its thrift stores also accounts for 20 percent of the organization’s total budget – more than $161 million a year according to its last annual report.
Locke explains that losing that much revenue so suddenly has forced the Salvation Army to get “creative” with its programming
Already, the organization has had to stop some of its major Maritime initiatives, both because of the funding crunch and COVID-19 social distancing restrictions.
In Charlottetown, for example, The Salvation Army serves free, daily breakfasts to people from vulnerable populations.
That program has now been put on hold, leaving hundreds of people without a hot breakfast each day.
“When our operations cease then you immediately have a very large group of people from the vulnerable population that we serve that are unable to access a safe environment where they can get a hot meal and have some encouragement and fellowship,” Locke said. “So, the whole isolation piece has huge implications.”
Locke is also worried other programs that serve lots of people in urban centres – like the Moncton Community and Family Services and Halifax Centre of Hope – will also be if thrift stores must stay closed for too long.
More immediately, however, Salvation Army branches in smaller communities are getting hit very hard by thrift store closures.
Salvation Army thrift stores in urban centres are run by the organization’s national office, which takes and redistributes the profits based on programming in each city. Locke explains that this means urban centres are cushioned a little from the lost thrift store revenue.
But ministries in smaller communities run their thrift stores themselves, putting the profits directly back into their own programming.
In Sydney, for example, the thrift store generates 43 percent of the ministry’s community and family services budget. In Springhill, 41 percent of the full annual budget comes from thrift store revenue. In Miramichi, that number is 49 percent.
“We know that these closures are going to have an impact,” Locks said. “They were counting on thrift store income and we know it’s going to be diminished based on the amount of time it’s going to be closed.”
Locke says it’s still too early to tell exactly how the lost revenue will affect each ministry but said the organization will do whatever it can to keep as many of its programs going as possible.
“We remain committed to serving the community and we continue to seek creative methods of being a support to the vulnerable,” he said.
He added that, when thrift stores can reopen, it will be vital for people to start donating again because the thrift stores depend on donations to operate.
“Many households will be impacted during this period of time where they’re not able to get the things they need: clothing, household goods, there’s going to be a high demand,” he said.