The Salvation Army’s local Red Kettle Campaign is ahead of last year’s pace just weeks away from Christmas.
Major Charles Pinkston told WLDS-WEAI News several weeks ago that the local branch would be starting this year’s campaign a couple weeks earlier than in years past.
With more than two weeks remaining, Pinkston says the Red Kettle Campaign is already one-third of the way to reaching their $100,000 goal.
“Things have been going pretty well this year. We’re at thirty-three thousand dollars, so we’re at thirty-three percent of our goal which is wonderful. Last year, we were only at about twenty-two thousand at this time, so we are definitely ahead of where we were at the same time last year. We usually find that as it gets closer to Christmas, people tend to get a little more generous, so we’re optimistic that maybe we can reach that goal this year,” says Pinkston.
Jacksonville residents can find volunteer bell-ringers at a number of locations including County Market, Midlands Farm & Fleet, JC Penney’s, Shopko and more. Pinkston feels fortunate to have many of the same volunteers year after year.
“They start calling us usually May through September, early October to try and get on the list and get the dates they prefer to have. We have lots and lots of people, we’re truly blessed,” Pinkston says.
Pinkston says all of the money raised goes back into helping the Jacksonville area during the holiday season.
“The money goes to help with toy distribution, food boxes here at Christmas time. It goes to help through the rest of the year to help individuals with utility assistance, our feeding program, our youth programs, pretty much anything we do here at Salvation Army to help the community,” says Pinkston.
The Red Kettle Campaign also has an online payment option for those who don’t carry cash. Go to give.salvationarmyusa.org/goto/Jacksonville to make a donation.