Where to give a helping hand this holiday season

MARQUETTE — The holidays are a time for giving and helping out our fellow friends. If you’re looking for a place to volunteer, Marquette County has endless opportunities going on throughout the season.

The Salvation Army has volunteer events happening throughout the year but some of their most well-known ones are currently underway. It’s the time of year for ringing the bell; over fifteen-hundred volunteers are currently needed to collect donations.

Collecting food for the pantry and the annual toy drive are other events currently needing volunteers.

“Even outside of the children in the community, the adults, making sure they are fed well, making sure that they’ve got something on the table. It just warms your heart to be involved in volunteer opportunities like that and in a lot of ways, it sets the tone for the whole season,” said Salvation Army, Capt. Doug Winters.

One local church is also asking for some volunteers to help children of incarcerated parents. The Bethel Baptist Church in Marquette is asking for volunteers who can purchase gifts for these deserving children. The age of these kids participating, range from seven month to 17 years old.

A charitable donation such as this one is something that doesn’t typically get much light shed on it.

“This is kind of a forgotten ministry or kind of a forgotten part of society. We think about people who don’t have things but then we think about the prisoners who can’t see their children and so this is a representation for them, for their children to have a gift from them under the tree at Christmas,” said Bethel Baptist Church, Jane Noe.

In order to participate in these volunteer opportunities or more, contact the establishments holding the events. The Marquette Salvation Army can be reached at 906-226-2241 and the Ishpeming Salvation Army can be reach at 906-486-8121.