PORTLAND, Maine — The Salvation Army is in urgent need of donations across the state this holiday season.
Officials say some places are seeing as much as a 50-percent drop in donations compared to last year.
"It's been a difficult year," Major Mark Mackneer with the Portland Salvation Army said. "We knew because of Thanksgiving being late we were going to lose a week of kettles."
In Portland they have only reached 32-percent of their $190,000 goal.
With donations down, The Salvation Army has tried to change how people can donate.
This year they have launched mobile giving using Apple Pay or Google Pay.
There are smart chips and QR codes on red kettle signs to direct donors to the app. Cellphone users can also donate by texting 'Kettle' to 91999.
"We're finding that it's been a slow start," Mackneer said. "Traditionally people are just used to putting their pocket change in the red kettle."
The organization's sixth annual Red Kettle Blitz will be held on Thursday across New England.
It is a competition among Salvation Army corps. In Maine, they hope the event will give them a boost they desperately need.
"We try our best to feed and serve those in our community,' Mackneer said. "We need the money in these pots to do that and to make sure everybody has a good Christmas season."
The Salvation Army has set a goal of $1.9 million for Northern New England.
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