Volunteers seek to fill kettles with change, Christmas cheer

MAT-SU — Maybe it was the jingling you heard as you walked into the grocery store or the lightness of your pockets unburdened with change, but you’ve probably noticed it’s bell-ringing season for the Salvation Army.

“This is our biggest fundraiser of the year,” said one of the Salvation Army’s two Mat-Su Corps officers, pastor Lt. Mark Davey. “It keeps the doors open, keeps the lights on.”

This would be his first Christmas heading up the Salvation Army’s Valley branch during bell-ringing season, but far from his first go-round overseeing bell ringing.

He’s been in charge of it in San Diego, Los Angeles, Haines and Juneau.

“In San Diego, it was a much larger area that I had. That was about 25 locations that I had to take care of. That was a lot of driving,” Davey said. “After I was ordained as a minister my wife and I were sent to Haines. We had one kettle at one of the two grocery stores and that was it.”

In the Valley, bell ringers are Fred Meyer locations in Palmer and Wasilla, Wasilla Carrs, and Wal-Mart. They ring from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Saturday from the day after Thanksgiving until Christmas Eve.

Davey said that the Salvation Army on a national level meets with those big retailers and comes up with agreements for bell ringing. Each store has different rules.

An example of that is Wal-Mart, which had decided on a national level that bell ringers can fundraise on the store’s property, but not inside.

“There isn’t really anything that Wal-Mart can do about it here locally. They have tried their absolute best,” Davey said. “They have provided our bell ringers with heaters while outside.”

He said the store’s employees are great to work with and very attentive, and their help has made it work for the Salvation Army.

“The thing is, because of the cold we haven’t been able to ring out there much the past few years,” Davey said.

With the heaters and some warm clothing, they’ve come back to Wal-Mart, which means they’re able to raise even more money. Davey said bell-ringers include regulars, people who ring every year, and newcomers. They are encouraged, so long as the store is willing, to do things like play instruments or sing.

“We had an a cappella choir singing out there on Saturday at Fred Meyer in Wasilla,” he said.

Organizations also sign up for shifts, everyone from the Rotary to the Boy Scouts to Colony and Wasilla high school cheerleaders.

“Every year the need gets greater, and so there are always plenty of opportunities to help us reach out to others,” Davey said. “We have some spots to ring bells here.”

Bell ringing is actually one of a number of programs the Salvation Army runs this time of year. Another is the Angel Tree program. Trees with paper ornaments bearing a gift a child wants and other information are set up all around the Valley.

The list includes two schools, a hotel, three athletic clubs, a restaurant, a pair of banks, a real estate agent and a chiropractor.

“We ask that they drop them off back at those same locations, preferably unwrapped,” Davey said. When a wrapped present comes in, “We have to unwrap it just to make sure it’s not something that might be unpleasant for a child to see, which is unfortunate, but it has happened in the past in several locations.”

Schools are also participating in canned food drives with the Salvation Army.

“Really, the community is very supportive of what we do to help people,” he said. “We do live in a great community, don’t we?”

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.