The Salvation Army is unveiling a program to allow people to donate unused balances from gift cards directly to that organization.
Americans buy and receive billions of dollars worth of gift cards to merchants every year. Many of those cards are never cashed in, and many cards are never completely "zeroed out," sometimes leaving a small amount of unspent money on the cards.
Mark Jones with the Salvation Army of Louisiana says he is hoping that people will donate part or all of those unused balances to the Salvation Army.
"That money will come directly back to the Salvation Army in their community to meet human needs, and to provide for local programs and services," said Jones.
He says that, for instance, if someone donates the remaining $4.00 on a Wal Mart gift card, Wal Mart, along with many other major retailers, have agreed to donate that amount in cash to the Salvation Army.
Jones says they will be grateful for any amount donated from gift cards.
"Any amount adds up to help individuals," Jones said. "Even $1.50 can help us feed somebody a hot meal."
Listen to WWL's Jay Vice talk with The Salvation Army's Mark Jones:
According to Jones, many retailers have also agreed to honor expired gift cards in the program.
He says that the Salvation Army will receive about 90 cents of every gift card dollar donated; the other 10 cents will go toward administrative costs of the online company that is handing the transactions for his organization.
Jones also says that Salvation Army bell-ringers aren't really set up to receive the gift cards, and that if the donations can't be made online, cards can be dropped off in person at a donation desk in one of the Salvation Army thrift stores.
For more information about the gift card program, click the following link:
http://www.tsa-donatemycard.com/
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