Salvation Army bell-ringers needed in some communities

Although the Salvation Army's Red Kettle campaign kicked off last week for some communities in the north country, others are lacking the volunteers to move forward.

Dave Allen, field representative for the Empire State Division of the Salvation Army, said assistance is especially needed in the Jefferson County community of Cape Vincent and the St. Lawrence County community of Fine.

"Those are the two that really need someone to coordinate some kind of effort to ring bells and have a presence in the community," Mr. Allen said.

Having that presence is important, he said, because about 90 percent of the money collected in a community stays in that community and goes toward funding emergency services there.

Watertown Salvation Army Capt. Evelyn M. Hopping said money collected in the Watertown area is used to help put together food baskets for holiday meals and to support year-round programs such as the soup kitchen, clothing vouchers, emergency furniture vouchers and children and adult programming.

Capt. Hopping said the money is needed for programs such as the Supper Club, which has as many as 125 children attend each Thursday before the end of the summer. More of the working poor are using the agency's services, so more assistance vouchers are being handed out, she said.

Last year, the Watertown Salvation Army collected $102,000 from the red kettles campaign. Capt. Hopping said she hopes that amount is matched this year.

By month's end, red kettles will be placed at various Watertown businesses including Kmart, Walgreens, Kinney Drugs, Price Chopper, Sam's Club and Big Lots.

Volunteers will be ringing bells in front of the red kettles in Watertown and elsewhere throughout the north country, Mondays to Saturdays from now until Christmas Eve. Mr. Allen said, however, that if some communities haven't met their goal, volunteers might staff kettles past Christmas.

Mr. Allen said volunteers can set their own hours, and there's no minimum or maximum time requirement. Some people man their kettle only one hour, while others have signed up for an eight-hour shift.

"The days we like to focus on are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. They tend to be the biggest shopping days," Mr. Allen said. "In a perfect world, we would like to have our kettles staffed Mondays to Saturdays but in some of these smaller communities, that's not always possible."

For more information or to volunteer, call Mr. Allen at 1 (800) 836-7630 or 558-8832.