The Salvation Army is continuing to ring the bell at retail locations around the city asking for donations and at the same time is continuing to take applications for assistance.

As of Friday, 572 families in Suffolk with 1,043 children had applied for Christmas assistance, Salvation Army officials said.

“I think we’re a little bit less than what we had this time last year, but they’re still coming in,” Maj. Cal Clatterbuck of the Salvation Army said. “We still have a whole group that we haven’t heard from yet.”

The local office also services communities to the west of Suffolk. As of Friday, 150 children in Southampton County, 206 families in the city of Franklin and eight families in Isle of Wight County had requested assistance, officials said, and more are still coming in all the time.

Christmas assistance from the Salvation Army can include toys and food. The organization also offers year-around help, including homeless assistance, disaster response, youth services, counseling and more.

For more information about the Salvation Army, call 539-5201.

Another way to help local families struggling during the holiday is to donate to the Cheer Fund. The Cheer Fund supports Suffolk’s Toys for Tots, and every penny goes directly to Suffolk children in the form of toys under the tree on Christmas morning.

To contribute to the Cheer Fund, mail a check to P.O. Box 1220, Suffolk, VA 23434 or bring it by the Suffolk News-Herald office, 130 S. Saratoga St., from Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.