Captains Ben and Annie Bridges, along with their three daughters, Lilly (6), Marlee (4) & Annabel (1) have served the Salvation Army previously as Corps Officers (Pastors) in Clay County, FL for three years and Tampa, FL for three years.

Ben and Annie are both life-long Salvationists with a passion for God and His people. Ben was born in Clearwater, FL, graduated from Tarpon Springs High School and received his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of South Florida. Annie was born to Salvation Army Officer parents and saw many different hometowns over the years. Upon graduation from Georgia State University, Annie began working as a Middle School Teacher in Tampa, FL while Ben found himself working for the Salvation Army’s Divisional Headquarters in both the Music and Missions Departments.

With a deep sense that God had more in store for their lives, the Bridges entered the Salvation Army Training college in 2010. Captains Ben and Annie enjoy many things, but nothing brings them more joy than their three beautiful girls as they together experience life filled with music, laughter and a love for the world.

Contact Information:

Lieutenants Dushawn and Crystal Dupree (Assistant Corps Officers)

The Salvation Army Naples Corps Advisory Board is made up of business and community leaders who provide wisdom, involvement, and support to the work and programs of the Corps.

Board members assist Officers and Staff in dealing with, identifying, and solving complex community needs, changing funding trends, and work to connect the Army to the larger community in meaningful ways.

2018 ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS:

CHAIR
Chris Seebeck, Community Volunteer

VICE CHAIR
Linda Thompson, Community Volunteer

TREASURER
Sharon Belcher, CPA, Rogers Wood Hill Starman & Gustason 

LIFE MEMBERS
Jodi Bertholdt, Community Volunteer
Richard Grunert, Vanderbilt Presbyterian Church Community
Volunteer
Phillip R. Wood, President, John R. Wood Properties 

MEMBERS
Jeannette Batten, Realtor, John R. Wood Properties
Bob Clark, Senior Vice President, Wells Fargo
Stephanie Dixon, IBERIABANK Corporation
Paul J. Marinelli, Wealth Advisor, RiverGlades Family Offices, LLC
Jerry Nicely, North Naples United Methodist Church Community Volunteer
Joshua D. Rudnick, Attorney, Woods, Weidenmiller, Michetti & Rudnick
Monica Scire, First Florida Integrity Bank
Dan Summers, Director of Emergency Services at Collier County
Rev. Sheila Zellers, Motivated by Love Ministries Naples
Jon White, Gulfshore Insurance

Child Development Center LN# C20C07538

Social Services & Food Pantries

Immokalee Service Center

Operation Lasting Hope

Hurricane Irma Disaster Assistance Center

Volunteer Services

Administrative Offices

• They are fun.
• They are passionate.
• They are on a mission.
• They bring other friends.
• They spread the word.
• They stick with us.

Women's Auxiliary

Friendraiser events include:

• Rally For Good
• Trunk or Treat
• Doing The Most Good Luncheon
• William Booth Society Lunch
• Volunteer Luncheon

• #GivingTuesday
• #GiveWhereYouLiveCollier
• #SatisfyTheHunger Food Drive
• #AdoptACamper this summer

Memorial and Tribute Gifts

Establishing a memorial or tribute gift is a meaningful way to honor the memory of someone special or celebrate a special occasion such as a birthday or holiday. Your memorial or tribute gift will contribute to helping others in Collier County.

In lieu of sending flowers, you may wish to show sympathy by making a charitable gift. You and the honoree’s next-of-kin will receive an acknowledgment card. Please provide our local Development staff with acknowledgment contact information.

To make a Memorial Gift using your credit card, please call 1-800-SAL-ARMY or visit https://donate.salvationarmyusa.org to make a secure online donation and designate your gift for Naples, Florida.

Thank you for allowing The Salvation Army to honor your loved one.

Some people’s legacies are written on monuments.

Yours can be written on lives. The Salvation Army has many financial planning options to help you plan your estate. Salvation Army planned giving advisors are professionals with many years of experience in estate and gift planning who care about your goals and plans. They will work with your attorney or accountant to explain the many gift opportunities available to you and the financial advantages of each. Contact The Salvation Army to learn how confidential, personal financial planning can help you achieve your goals while helping to sustain our life-changing mission.

For more information visit The Salvation Army Florida Divisional page >

2019 Christmas Toy Shop Location

Naples Christmas Toy Shop: Food and new unwrapped toys for the 2019 holiday season can be dropped off Monday – Friday at 3420 Tamiami Trail East, Naples, FL 34112 (Old Office Depot building, near Dunkin Donuts, formally our Disaster Assistance Center).

Immokalee Service Center: 2050 Commerce Avenue #8 Immokalee, FL 34142.

The Salvation Army needs volunteers to help distribute the gifts, along with food for holiday meals, to the participating families. Oftentimes, employees and family members of the sponsoring organization help distribute their group’s gifts throughout their community. Community volunteer and service groups, church groups, and retired senior volunteer programs often aid The Salvation Army during the holidays and throughout the year, but more volunteers are always needed.

Thank You

Note: The Naples Christmas Toy Shop location will vary from year to year. We depend on commercial property owners who have available seasonal space and take corporate social responsibility seriously (#CSR)! Help us thank them for their generous support by supporting the retail shops in their plaza.

When you start a fundraiser, volunteer, or donate to the Red Kettles this Christmas, you’re helping The Salvation Army fight for those most in need.

“Hungry” is no way to spend the holidays

59% of people seeking food assistance choose between paying for food and paying rent or mortgage.

Our holiday food boxes include more than 18 lbs. of shelf-stable pantry items like canned vegetables and meat, boxed stuffing mix, pasta, rice and more.

You can give hope when you participate in a community food drive: Holiday Food Drive Poster pdf file.

#FightForGoodSWFL School Food Drive

Last year Collier County students collected more than 30,000 food items from October 1st – 31st. Their monumental efforts provided 1,950 families and 222 seniors living in Naples and Immokale with items needed to make a holiday meal during Thanksgiving and/or Christmas.

2019 Participating Collier County Schools | Tag for Twitter:

• Avalon Elementary | @AVEDragonStrong
• Calusa Park Elementary | @blackbearsroar
• Community School of Naples | @CSNaples
• Corkscrew Elementary | @CESCorkyBear
• Corkscrew Middle | @CorkscrewMiddle
• Everglades City | @team_evg
• Golden Gate Elementary | @GGEseagulls
• Golden Gate High | @GGHS_Titans
• Golden Gate Middle | @GGM_SOARS
• Gulf Coast Charter Academy South | @GCCAS1
• Lake Park Elementary | @LPEPanthers
• Laurel Oak Elementary | @LaurelOakElem
• Lely Elementary | @LelyLionsRoar
• Lely High | @WeAreLely
• Lorenzo Walker High | @LWTHSMustangs
• Marco Island Academy | @MarcoIslandAcad
• Marco Island Charter Middle | @IslandMiddle
• Naples Park Elementary | @NPESharks
• Oakridge | @oms_bulldogs
• Sabal Palm Elementary | @SPEHAWKSNAPLES
• Seagate Elementary | @SeaGateES
• Vineyards Elementary | @VineyardsVipers

Give the kids shouts of encouragement on Twitter #FightForGoodSWFL.

Thank you to Ray the Mover/North American Van Lines at 3861 Domestic Ave. in Naples, Florida for providing our 2019 school food drive collection boxes. Help us show them appreciation on their Ray the Mover Facebook Page.

Things you will find on this page:

• Host a toy drive collection box, see form below.
• Support materials: Logos, posters, social media materials and more contact Robin Wendell.
• Public events and offers.
• Toy drop-off locations.
• 2019 Toy Drive Posters
• Toy shop volunteer opportunities.

The Salvation Army is charged with managing the Toys for Tots toy collection drive in Collier County. Distribution of the toys is done via our Angel Tree NaplesChristmasCheer.com program. Once a child has been registered as an “Angel,” The Salvation Army makes a promise to provide Christmas for that child.

In order to accomplish this, The Salvation Army depends on our partnership with Toys for Tots and the generosity of individual donors, local corporations and organizations. Last year, hundreds of companies, organizations and individuals helped fulfill the gift requests of more than 6,000 local children who would otherwise have not had gifts at Christmas.

Host a Toys for Tots Drop-Off Location

You can host your own drop-off location by planning an event at your home, workplace or in a community location. Encourage friends to stop by and donate a new unwrapped toy.

You may also want to involve your children in the donation process by contacting Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, and other community service groups who can organize a drive.

What Types of Toys to Donate

Children ages 0-12: While there are many lists of popular toys for kids of all ages, there is no preapproved donation list for Toys for Tots. You may want to consider donating toys from categories that include sporting equipment/bags/balls, books, board games, radio control cars/trucks, dolls, hand-held electronics, bicycles and skateboards/helmets. Please do not donate toys that look like realistic weapons.

Children ages 13-18: The Salvation Army works with children ages 13-18 on a case by case basis. These children are often referred to us by the District Liaison for the Homeless & Foster Care Education Program run by the Collier County Public Schools, or organizations like Youth Haven, and the Hunger & Homeless Coalition of Collier County.

These children have special needs and would benefit best from receiving a gift card in $10 denominations. Walmart, Target, and even gift cards to the movie theatre allow these children access to things not provided for by food pantries, back-to- school drives, or other items provided by various local social services programs throughout the year.

Donate Money

If you are not sure what to buy or do not have the time to get to a store, you can donate money online using a credit card. Checks should either be made out to Toys for Tots or The Salvation Army of Collier County, not both.

Volunteer Your Time and Resources

Consider volunteering time to help at the Christmas Toy Shop sorting and packing toys, clothing and food.

• November 4 – December 20, 2019
• Mon. – Fri. 9 am – 12 pm or 1 pm – 3 pm
• 3420 Tamiami Trail East, Naples, FL 34112

To get an idea of how much work goes into getting ready for Christmas watch our 2017 time-lapse video on our YouTube Channel.

Additional Volunteer Needs

Drivers are needed to help drop-off signage and collection boxes at retail and business locations on Thursday, November 7, 2019. For more information on our #BoxBlast2019 event visit our Facebook event page.

Restaurants and individuals who are able to provide lunch for Toy Shop volunteers.

What is an Angel Tree

The Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program provides new clothing and/or toys for children of needy families. Each Angel Tree is decorated with numbered paper angel tags with the first name, age, and gender of a child who is in need of a gift. Contributors remove one or more tags from the tree and purchase appropriate gifts for the child or children described on the tags.

Purpose of Angel Tree

• To provide toys/gifts for individuals in need;
• To eliminate the cost of toys/gifts that would normally be part of The Salvation Army’s holiday expenses, thus making more funding available for emergency needs such as food, clothing, shelter, rental assistance, fuel assistance, etc.;
• To offer the opportunity for supporters to assist someone in need by selecting an “angel” and purchasing a special gift for that “angel;”
• To offer supporters the opportunity to provide items needed by The Salvation Army for the holiday season, as well as throughout the year.

Sponsors

Each year, sponsors, ranging from neighborhood associations to private companies, volunteer to place Angel Trees in secure, high-pedestrian traffic areas within their community, organization or office. Many sponsors provide a tree as an added donation, along with promotional materials to inform their community, members or staff of the program, along with confidential information about the children who will benefit from their generosity. The sponsoring organization also serves as a collection place for the gifts and provides secure storage until a volunteer from The Salvation Army can collect the gifts for distribution, along with food and meals to help needy families enjoy the holiday season.

How It Works

• Companies, businesses, schools, and other groups agree to have an Angel Tree to benefit The Salvation Army;
• Each group provides a contact person, who organizes and supervises the project;
• Each location (business, school, etc.) provides a Christmas tree in which to hang the Angel Tree tags.
• The tags provide information as to gender, wish, and age (Note: Trees are optional and may be decorated with lights and simple decorations at the discretion of the sponsoring organization);
• The group determines how many “angels” they feel they can sponsor and informs The Salvation Army Corps Officer, who will supply the requested numbers of tags;
• Tags are taken and gifts are donated unwrapped with each Angel Tag attached to the gift (Please also collect unused and unselected Angel Tags for return to The Salvation Army);
  A suggested value is $15-$30 for each gift.

Thank you for all you do for our community.

The Salvation Army Silver Bells program is a need-based Christmas assistance program for seniors age 62+ who live in Collier County. These elderly citizens are stretching every penny struggling to stay afloat. With the help of numerous corporate partners and generous members of our community like you, The Salvation Army of Collier County provides gifts to hundreds of seniors each Christmas.

Note: Many of our Silver Bells will provide us with a list of needed and wanted items, you are not obligated to provide every item on the list. Here are some gift ideas: Socks, personal care items, sheets, blankets, night light, wireless key/wallet finder, backup battery phone charger, reach tool, back scratcher, coffee maker, alarm clock, message pillow, motion sensor toilet night light, magnifying glass with light, folding step stool, adjustable safety vehicle support handle nylon car assist device, jar opener, adult coloring kits, theater gift cards.

Thank you for remembering a Silver Bell Senior at Christmas time.

Click to Register to Ring

2019 Red Kettle Volunteer FAQ Sheet

Red Kettle Match Sponsorship Info Sheet

Social Services & Food Pantries

Immokalee Service Center

Operation Lasting Hope

Hurricane Irma Disaster Assistance Center