On November 1st until Christmas Eve people ring the bell for The Salvation Army; they do this to raise money for homeless and needy families. To donate, you can find a Red Kettle at many locations in the area.

Outside many stores, you may notice people next to a Red Kettle ringing bells and wonder the purpose. My family and some friends rang the bell at Pinecone Coborn’s this past week. Not only did we have fun wishing people “Merry Christmas,” we raised money for a great cause. 

William Booth founded The Salvation Army in 1878, and later Captain Joseph McFee began the Red Kettle campaign in 1891. Currently, The Salvation Army is actively serving in 133 countries around the world. Nowadays, another way people donate is through Christmas gifts. The gifts are bought and donated by volunteers from the community and are then given to the “Toy Shop,” where families in need can come and “shop” for gifts for their children. Gifts can be brought home to be given to the children from their parents or from Santa. You may have seen a giving tree at stores such as Walmart, where you could find a tag and purchase a gift for a needy family.

There are also donation boxes at various locations such as Kwik Trip. If you don’t see a donation box or Red Kettle, don’t worry, you can always give online. To read more about The Salvation Army, you can visit this website. This organization helps 30 million people in many different services all year long. Some of these services include, religious services, disaster response services, social service programs, youth services, senior centers, Christmas programs, human and sexual trafficking advocacy, veterans services, and prison services.

When you visit The Salvation Army’s page, you can read more about the different services that this organization helps with. If you feel like you want to volunteer to ring the bell, you can sign up here!

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Atira Olson

If you walk by the Red Kettle and have no cash they have an option to donate by phone.