Salvation Army needs troops and supplies

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This week I was reporter for Team B and my story was on the Salvation Army and the lack of donations and volunteers that it's received this year. The organization is worried that it may not have enough food to meet demand this holiday season, despite an effort to encourage getting more people involved by holding a special "So You Think You Can Ring" contest. The competition is among the volunteer bell ringers and shoppers vote on who's the best. The Salvation Army is encouraging the less fortunate families in the community to sign up for this years Christmas Bureau campaign, but if donations are too low, some families may be denied assistance.

I went downtown to the Emergency Center and got an interview with Donna Ross, the emergency services coordinator. She said that the lack of donations this year was because of a declining national economy. She also reminded me that last year was the same situation, and by mid-December donations picked up rapidly, as did volunteers. She said that the public is willing to donate their time, supplies, and money but first they must be reminded that there are people out there struggling to put food on the table. She promised me that promotion would pick up in the subsequent weeks. The story turned out great and I got to use a bell ringer for my natural sound. If I could have done the story again, I would focus on donated toys being checked for high levels of lead. Twelve thousand toys will be handed out by the Salvation Army this year and that may mean having to work longer hours or get more volunteers to do the job.

Overall our team did alright, but seeing that this was our last newscast I was confident things would go perfect. Things didn't go too smoothly however because of technical difficulties, but excuses are like...well you know how the saying goes. Everyone has one! Amy did a great job remaining cool under pressure as anchor, and she had great pacing through out. AJ's story was well done, and Katie did a great job with the rundown by grouping similar story topics with one another. It's a sad sad day since this is our last newscast together, but I'm happy that I got my first real radio news experience with such wonderful classmates. Hopefully television reporting is as rewarding.