By Sarah Light, staff writer

With the kettle portion of the Albert Lea Salvation Army Christmas Campaign officially completed, the organization announced Monday it is still $13,217 short of its $131,000 goal for the year.

The group still has four weeks remaining to collect mail-in donations.

&8220;With the kind of support that I&8217;ve seen since I&8217;ve been here, I&8217;m pretty confident that it&8217;s going to come together,&8221; said Capt. Jim Brickson.

Brickson said he was impressed with the total raised through the kettle portion of the campaign this year. Twenty thousand dollars more was raised this year compared to last year, he said.

Now, hopefully, the mail-in donations will make up for the rest.

Last year, additional dollars that came through at the end of the campaign helped push the organization past it&8217;s goal of $120,000.

Salvation Army leaders hope this will be the case again this year.

All funds raised throughout the Christmas campaign help the Salvation Army with a myriad of assistance programs for the community, including after-school and summer day care programs for low-income families, temporary shelter, rental assistance and fuel assistance, a food pantry and budget counseling to help families achieve economic independence.

Last year, these programs went to serve more than 4,300 individuals, including more than 1,000 families. It provided close to 200,000 pounds of food to Freeborn County residents.

People interested in still making a donation for this year&8217;s campaign can mail them to 302 Court St., Albert Lea.

To contact the Salvation Army, call 373-5710.