The Salvation Army has been gathering, filling and distributing Thanksgiving food boxes and Christmas gifts for children for years — and the need keeps growing.

Last year, The Salvation Army handed out 200 household food boxes to help feed more than 460 people, said Capt. Chase Green. That’s about one in five Wrangell households.

There is no income test; anyone can sign up. “We try to do this as low-barrier as possible,” he said.

Registration is open, with a sign-up deadline of Nov. 11.

Residents can call The Salvation Army at 907-874-3753 to start the process or come to the office on Zimovia Highway to get added to the list. Office hours for sign-up are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays.

“The head of the household needs to have their identification,” Green said, adding that a driver’s license, tribal card or other form of official ID will work.

Adults also need to present “some form of an ID for all the children,” he said.

Participants will need to fill out a form with the name, birthdate and gender of any children in the home so that The Salvation Army can match the food box to the number of people in the household and also ensure that they give age-appropriate Christmas gifts for children, he said.

Community donations cover the holiday gifts, and much of the cost of the food boxes too. Grants also help, Green said, noting that the Food Bank of Alaska is helping fill this year’s Thanksgiving boxes, which will include frozen turkeys and most everything else for the holiday menu.

The Christmas gift program brightened up the holiday for more than 60 children last year, he said.

The Salvation Army will deliver the food boxes to senior citizens before Thanksgiving and will set a pickup schedule at the church for everyone else.

They also will schedule pickup times with families for the Christmas gifts, Green said.

“It’s kind of a well-oiled machine,” he said of the annual holiday program.