The Jacksonville Salvation Army is in urgent need of bell ringers after a large pledge to ring fell through.
Salvation Army Captain Chris Clarke says virtually every kettle location has openings from now through next Friday, after a well-intentioned student reserved the vast majority of the week, then couldn’t get anyone to volunteer.
“We have several bell-ringing locations that became available all of a sudden. We had a group that needed to cancel and they had signed up for five hundred hours of bell ringing from today all the way through next Friday.
So we have lots of spots available both indoors and outdoors. People can sign up, even on the same day, by calling the Salvation Army at 217-245-7124. And if they are signing up for the next day or the next week, they can sign up at registertoring.com as well.”
Clarke says several people had tried to sign up to ring this over the next week but couldn’t because the spots were all taken. He says if you’re one of those volunteers, please check the site or call the citadel again, and if you’re not, there are plenty of locations and times available.
“People definitely have their favorite spot to ring at, so many of those are again available and we encourage people to either give us a call or sign up online.”
The annual red kettle campaign makes up well over half of the Salvation Army’s yearly budget, and Clarke says those kettles only really help when there is a smiling face ringing the bell and spreading holiday cheer.
If you would like to donate time to ring for the Salvation Army red kettle campaign, even for just one hour, go to register to ring dot com or call 217-245-7124.