WHEREAS the Salvation Army is the country's largest non-government provider of direct social services and helps more than 1.7 million Canadians each year.

The Salvation Army works within 400 communities across the country, providing a wide variety of programs and services including emergency disaster services, addictions support, community and family services, family tracing services, camps, street youth and homeless services, palliative care, corrections and justice services, young parent resource centres and services for the mentally and physically challenged.

The holiday season is an important time for the Salvation Army as its annual Christmas Kettle campaign gets underway to raise funds to help men, women, families and children in need. There are more than 350 Christmas Kettle locations throughout the Greater Toronto Area, all in an effort to meet the organization's goal of raising $3 million.

The Salvation Army has also partnered with the CTV Toy Mountain campaign to raise 150,000 toys for children this holiday and will provide Christmas Day dinners to those in need across the region.

NOW THEREFORE, I, Mayor Rob Ford, on behalf of Toronto City Council, do hereby proclaim December 19 – 26, 2011 as "Salvation Army Week" in the City of Toronto and encourage everyone to support the Salvation Army this holiday season.