Canada Post strike causing Salvation Army donations to drop [Video]

The Salvation Army said the ongoing Canada Post strike has had an impact on the number of donations it has received during its busiest season.

The organization revealed Monday that it is down 50 per cent in holiday fundraising due to the strike.

“This is by far the most challenging year we’ve ever seen, from my perspective, for fundraising,” said Major Al Hoeft, divisional secretary for public relations with the Salvation Army’s prairie division.

Hoeft said the organization relies on direct mail campaigns to reach donors, but said 2.4 million pieces of mail have not been delivered to donors because of the strike.

“That, as you can imagine, is a significant shortfall in our ability to connect with our donors,” he said.

Without enough donations, programming will be impacted, Hoeft said.

“We can’t operate in a deficit,” he said. “We have to operate responsibly with the funds that we have. And so for us, that makes a huge impact. …