John Raymond, owner of Honest John’s, poses for a picture at his East Second Street location. Raymond is donating all proceeds from his buffet sales on Sunday to the Salvation Army. P-J file photo

Every holiday season the Salvation Army looks to raise money to continue their efforts to help those in need through efforts such as the Red Kettle Campaign, and this year local pizzeria, Honest John’s is looking to help the Salvation Army in their efforts as well.

On Sunday, Dec. 21 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Honest John’s — located at 1245 East Second Street — will be holding its normal buffet, but with a small twist as all profits from the buffet that day will be going towards the Salvation Army. Honest John’s owner John Raymond, said menu items available that day will be the same as they normally are, such as pizza, wings, the soup and salad bar, and desserts.

“We have been giving to the Salvation Army every year when they do their Christmas Distribution Day for the families,” Raymond said. “I got to witness it a few years ago and I was amazed at how much so few people put together. We decided to do a bit more this year. Every year I wish I could do more. We hope this will become an annual thing as well, because the Salvation Army does so many good things and every year people seem to need a little bit more.”

Raymond added that the Buffalo Bills game will be on in the restaurant during the buffet as well, and that the hope is to sell “a couple hundred” buffets that day with all of the proceeds going to the Salvation Army. The Salvation Army’s Red Kettle campaign is getting tougher to meet each year, Raymond said, with fewer bell ringers manning kettle sites.

Salvation Army Major Kim Merchant expressed her appreciation for Raymond and Honest John’s providing meals at the Christmas Distribution Day each year, as she said that gives volunteers time to stop and rest that day and not have to worry about food. The addition of the buffet fundraiser this year means even more for them.

“This will help us a great deal as we are seeing very low numbers for the Red Kettle campaign this year due to Walmart’s curbside pickup and the weather making it so people are not stopping to put money in the kettles as much,” Merchant said. “I mentioned it to John and he said he wanted to help. Having 100% of the proceeds from the buffet come to us will be enormous for us.”

Merchant said so far with this holiday season’s Red Kettle campaign the Salvation Army has brought in $43,000. The overall goal is $115,000, and on the day Merchant spoke with The Post-Journal there were only 11 days left to reach this goal. She said hopefully the buffet will help to fill that gap.

For Raymond, offering this buffet is a way for not only the restaurant to help out but to allow community members an additional way to help as well. He said with the season being so busy sometimes things such as donating to the Red Kettle campaign get put off a bit and sometimes people do not realize how many people are in need. Time can go quickly during the holidays, and he said sometimes people do not have the time or money on them to leave something for the Red Kettles and then run out of time to do it.

“It makes you feel good to help others too,” Raymond said. “If a lot of people do a lot of little things, that can build up to a ton of stuff. Every year I wish I could do more, and the Salvation Army does so many things. I wanted to do this through the Salvation Army to really reach people that I don’t reach all the time. I wanted to work through the organizations that know what they’re doing to help people in need.”

A large Christmas card will also be available to sign when coming to the buffet on Dec. 21 to later be given to the Salvation Army, including all of the names of people who come to help out that day.

“Please tell a friend, come stop in, watch the Bills game, and help others eat while you’re eating,” Raymond said.