Summer Picnic at Riesbeck’s

This Friday the Salvation Army is hosting its first summer picnic at Riesbeck’s grocery store on Howard St.

Guests and shoppers can expect hotdogs, music, facepainting and pictures with their new mascot “Captain Care”. Envoy at the salvation army, George Bates, says the army is always trying to help people by raising money for the church.

“Basically what we wanted to do is reach out to the community just to have a relationship with them one on one where they can come in and ask questions that they might not normally ask about who we are and what do we do. A lot of people know us as the bell ringers, everybody knows about that but its interesting because the our number one thing that we are is a church, most people don’t know that. ”

With the help of Riesbeck’s, the Salvation Army is trying to help the community. And Bates hopes this event can raise awareness about the organization.

“We meet needs, we heal hurts and we change lives. So when we get this money and someone comes in with a need we meet that need if possible. Heal hurts, if you’re hurting you know, usually it’s financially, spiritually, whatever reason and we try to help out that way. And if we can do either one of those things, basically we are changing lives.”

You can find the activities at Reisbeck’s in the parking lot from 11 a.m. to 5p.m. Friday.