The official appeal will be held on May 24 and 25, but collectors will be pounding the pavement in the Stawell community from next week.

Among the volunteer collectors this year will be a group of Year 11 students from the Stawell Secondary College College.

The students will take part in the appeal as part of their VCAL studies.

Stawell Secondary College teacher Anthony Taylor said it was the students' idea to become involved with the appeal.

``They are really excited about it,'' he said.

Salvation Army Captain Carolyn Wright said without efforts of community groups such as the Stawell Secondary College the appeal would not be possible.

``It is really critical that community groups like the school, CFA and Rotary are involved to cover all of the area.''

The College's involvement grew from a donation to the Salvation Army's Thrift Shop.

``Some of the girls (Year 11) did a clothes drive, they donated the clothes to our Thrift Shop,'' Ms Wright.

``Following that I went and spoke to them and they decided to be part of the Red Shield Appeal.''

Students will be collecting next Thursday.

Last year the appeal raised $10,000 locally, it's hoped that this year's collections will equal or even surpass that total this year.

Ms Wright said funds were desperately needed as the demand on Salvation Army services was continuing to grow. The drought was placing a lot of pressure on families and many are turning to the Salvos for assistance.

She said funds raised would go towards local programs offered by the Salvation Army.

Funds raised support transitional and social welfare programs run by the Salvation Army, as well as the purchase of food for hampers at Christmas time.

Red Shield collectors will be out and about in the Stawell community from next week.

Collectors will be easily identified by their clear identification tags, official collection bags and receipts.

Donations can be made through 13 SALVOS (127258), by going to any Westpac branch or by visiting www.salvationarmy.org.au.