The annual Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign will kick off Friday, November 1st and will run through Christmas Eve. The Jacksonville Salvation Army is looking for bell-ringers for the holiday season right now.
The campaign goal this year is $180,000. With only two months to raise the funds needed to help those in need year-round, the Salvation Army is hopeful the community will once again give generously of their time and money.
Major Chris Clarke says there are plenty of time slots to sign up and ring for an hour or two at a choice from 8 local businesses: “People can sign up at registertoring.com. We have lots of spots open again this year. Typically, we are only filling about 1/3 of the spots available or the hours that we say are available throughout the season. We just imagine that if we can get more spots filled, that’s going to be more money coming back to us to be able to help more people throughout the year.”
There are 4,823 hours of available bell ringing. If you are unable to sign up online, you can call the Jacksonville Salvation Army to reserve a time at 217-245-7124. Last year, the Jacksonville Salvation Army provided over 800,000 pounds of food, over 16,000 meals, 1,200 nights of shelter to approximately 5,100 Morgan County residents in need.
Clarke says they are also in need of Angel Tree donors. Clarke says they are trying to make people aware that the Angel Tree donation isn’t just a tag on a tree at a business. There are other options: “The Angel Tree operates like it does every other year, but we are trying to get the word out that there is multiple programs within the Angel Tree program. We say ‘Angel Tree’ and a lot of people automatically think of the trees they see around the businesses with the tags. But we also have another program called ‘Adopt-A-Family’ where businesses or organizations or individuals and families can adopt a family. The entity can tell us how many kids they want in a family, maybe how many parents, and we will get them matched with a family and they then can decide if they want to drop off the gifts directly to the Salvation Army or they also have the option to delivering those gifts directly to the family’s home.”
To find out more ways to donate this holiday season to the Salvation Army visit salvationarmymorgancounty.org or visit their new location at 1124 Wall Street.