Adopt-A-Kettle Program
Ring Bells At A Salvation Army Red Kettle Location
Go to www.ringbells.org to sign up your group as Volunteer Bell Ringers for a day, or call Gordon Hall, Adopt-A-Kettle Volunteer Coordinator, at 423-756-1023
It's time for The Salvation Army and its many friends to "ring those Silver Bells" at the familiar Red Kettles throughout our community!
Call your family, friends, club, Sunday School class or work group and serve together as Adopt-A-Kettle Volunteer Bell Ringers to ring bells and collect money at one Red Kettle location for one ten-hour day this Christmas Season!
Funds raised through The Salvation Army’s Red Kettles ensure that thousands of individuals and families enjoy the wonderful Christmas they would not otherwise have. We provide food, clothing, other necessities and, yes, toys for the children!
And, the coins and bills dropped into the Red Kettles help The Salvation Army continue to help the needy during the winter months of the New Year.
Join our Team as an Adopt-A-Kettle Volunteer Bell Ringer! With your help, the Christmas 2011 Holiday Season will be the best ever! You will change lives by lending a hand!
You will Be a Shield to the needy! Thank you!
To Register Online As An Adopt-A-Kettle Volunteer Group, Follow These Steps:
- Go to www.ringbells.org
- Select our Community from the SEARCH ALL COMMUNITIES drop-down: Chattanooga, TN. This will take you to "The Salvation Army-Chattanooga, TN" page.
- Click on Adopt A Kettle Volunteers 2011. Please read the introductory information.
- Select and click on your choice of location. This will take you to that location's page, and you will be able to browse the *Saturdays still available for ringing.
- Click the Box and then click "Reserve." This takes you to the Register Page, which will tell you if the location status is "O.K."
- Go to either the First Time Visitor button and click to register, or if you are a returning volunteer group, go to Returning Volunteer and click to log in.
- Fill out the registration form completely. Be sure to include your email.
- Click Submit to Register. You will then be prompted to register for one or more other shifts, if you wish.
- Then, click to Reserve you shift(s)!
- Print the Page for your records.
NOTE: If you have questions, are interested in *another possible location or can ring only a half day, please call Gordon Hall at 423-756-1023.
Red Kettle History
 In 1891, Salvation Army Captain Joseph McFee was distraught because so many poor individuals in San Francisco were going hungry. During the holiday season, he resolved to provide a free Christmas dinner for the destitute and poverty-stricken. He only had one major hurdle to overcome -- funding the project.
Where would the money come from, he wondered. He lay awake nights, worrying, thinking, praying about how he could find the funds to fulfill his commitment of feeding 1,000 of the city's poorest individuals on Christmas Day. As he pondered the issue, his thoughts drifted back to his sailor days in Liverpool, England. He remembered how at Stage Landing, where the boats came in, there was a large, iron kettle called "Simpson's Pot" into which passers-by tossed a coin or two to help the poor.
The next day Captain McFee placed a similar pot at the Oakland Ferry Landing at the foot of Market Street. Beside the pot, he placed a sign that read, "Keep the Pot Boiling." He soon had the money to see that the needy people were properly fed at Christmas.
Six years later, the kettle idea spread from the west coast to the Boston area. That year, the combined effort nationwide resulted in 150,000 Christmas dinners for the needy. In 1901, kettle contributions in New York City provided funds for the first mammoth sit-down dinner in Madison Square Garden, a custom that continued for many years. Today in the U.S., The Salvation Army assists more than four-and-a-half million people during the Thanksgiving and Christmas time periods.
Captain McFee's kettle idea launched a tradition that has spread not only throughout the United States, but all across the world. Kettles are now used in such distant lands as Korea, Japan, Chile and many European countries. Everywhere, public contributions to Salvation Army kettles enable the organization to continue its year-round efforts at helping those who would otherwise be forgotten.
National Red Kettle Kickoff - A Thanksgiving Day Tradition
 Since 1997, the Dallas Cowboys have brought The Salvation Army's national Red Kettle Kickoff to national television during halftime of their annual Thanksgiving Day game to officially launch The Salvation Army's holiday fundraising drive. The Kettle Kickoff draws attention to the 20,000 kettles that appear across the country each November.
"Our Thanksgiving Day half-time shows have become a very visible part of the holiday tradition at Texas Stadium," says Dallas Cowboys Owner and General Manager Jerry Jones. "With the visibility of the Dallas Cowboys and The Salvation Army, we are able to invite the world into our home and offer an invitation for millions of people to make a difference in the lives of so many."
The Jonas Brothers on Volunteering for and Donating to the Red Kettle Program
Featured Artists:
- Enrique Iglesias - 2011
- Keith Urban - 2010
- Daughtry - 2009
- Jonas Brothers - 2008
- Kelly Clarkson - 2007
- Carrie Underwood - 2006
- Sheryl Crow - 2005
- Destiny's Child - 2004
- Toby Keith - 2003
- LeAnn Rimes - 2002
- Creed - 2001
- Jessica Simpson / Billy Gilman - 2000
- Clint Black - 1999
- Randy Travis / Linda Davis - 1998
- Reba McEntire - 1997
|
