The Langlade County Service Unit, widely known as the Salvation Army, announced that it raised over $87,000 during the holiday season at their annual appreciation dinner.

Salvation Army Bell Ringing Coordinator, Bill Kelly, announced the totals in front of nearly 50 volunteers at the unit’s dinner on Sunday, Jan. 4 at the Faith United Church of Christ in Antigo.

The totals were not solely from the holiday season, “the $87,000 comes from a time period of Mar. 1 to Jan. 2,” Kelly said. “However, the majority comes from the holiday season, which was from Nov. 15 to Dec. 31.”

The $87,000 is over $16,000 more than the unit raised last year.

“We got off to a shaky start,” Kelly said. “We finished strong.”

Kelly and Tom Bremer, a Field Representative of the Salvation Army, further broke down the $87,000 into checks and other ways donations were received.

According to Kelly, the unit received well over 200 checks during the Mar. 1 to Jan. 2 time period. Two of those checks were for $5,000. The unit received nine checks of over $1,000. They also received 126 checks with donations ranging from $10-$120.

Wal-Mart was the highest donation location raising over $19,000. Other locations of stations include: Copps, Fleet Farm, Walgreens, and Peebles among others.

The funds raised by the Salvation Army are used to help Langlade County residents with emergency lodging, evictions, gas and electricity shut-offs and medical and emergency transportation issues.

The unit announced that the money raised went to 620 Langlade County residents in need.