“I participated in a campaign on behalf of Influence Central for The Salvation Army. I received a promotional item as a thank you for participating.”
The Salvation Army has been around for as long as I can remember! I grew up in smalltown Ohio where one of my in-laws’ mother was active with the Salvation Army volunteering and attending church. Where my husband and I live now we have a huge Salvation Army thrift store. It is my favorite thrift store to shop in. I’ve even shared a couple videos of my Salvation Army hauls on my blog and Youtube channel.
With nearly 7,600 centers of operation covering almost every zip code in America everyone reading this post is probably familiar with the Salvation Army too; but, did you know The Salvation Army provides assistance to not only Americans but also to people in more than 120 countries and territories around the world?
A little history. I love history – by the way!
The red kettle campaign has it’s early beginnings all the way back in 1891 with Salvation Army Captain Joseph McFee in San Francisco. He wanted to provide a free Christmas dinner for the poor in the area but lacked funding to do so. He remembered back in his days as a sailor in Liverpool, England how a pot would be set out near the Stage Landing where people could toss in donations.
After getting permission to do the same elsewhere, the Oakland Ferry Landing at the foot of Market Street, McFee set out a pot to collect donations to feed the poor. By Christmas 1895, the kettle was being used in 30 Salvation Army locations in different parts of the West Coast area.
What the Red Kettle means to so many today.
Last year the Salvation Army did much more than provide more than 58 million meals to needy people; The Salvation Army provided 204,000 people rehabilitation services through donations to Family Stores and more than 1.8 million people received help via senior, medical and institutional services. That just a few things they’ve been able to do because people like you and me have donated to their cause!
Our family donates to the Red Kettle every year at Christmas time and we donate a lot of our unwanted goods from home to our local Salvation Army store throughout the year. I also shop the Salvation Army Family Store often – I love their half-off almost everything every Wednesday!
I believe in helping others and I want my children to also. The Salvation Army red kettle makes it easy to present my children with an opportunity to give. I’ll be sharing my Red Kettle Reason for giving, you can too at RedKettleReason.org.
Consider this.
- As a national average, 82 cents of every dollar The Salvation Army spends goes directly to support community service programs – far exceeding the Better Business Bureau’s guideline of 65 percent.
- According to The New York Times, “The Salvation Army is widely considered exemplary among nonprofits in handling cash collections.”
I bet a lot of you already donate to the Red Kettle this time of year.
What’s your Red Kettle Reason for giving this year?
Go to RedKettleReason.org and share it!
