Christmas News Center 2016

The numbers below include all Christmas Campaign donations raised via red kettles, the mail, online, and other sources. Christmas donations account for about one third of The Salvation Army’s total annual budget.

 

Please help us reach our fundraising goals by donating or bell ringing.

Twin Cities

• Raised: $11.5 million (updated Jan. 12, 2017)
• Goal: $11.6 million

North Dakota and Greater MN

• Raised: $8.9 million (updated Jan. 12, 2017)
• Goal: $9.1 million

 

Please check back often for more breaking developments in The Salvation Army Northern Division’s 2016 Christmas Campaign.

 

The Salvation Army needs your ‘high five’: What is your high five? It could be five dollars, five tens, or maybe you bring five friends to donate at a kettle. With donations trailing $2.3 million across Minnesota and North Dakota, we’re asking you to help out by giving your high five.

Donations down $2.3 million across Minn., N.D.: With just days left in The Salvation Army’s Christmas Campaign, donations are down significantly – about $2.3 million – across the Twin Cities, Greater Minnesota and North Dakota when compared to this time last year.

 

Below are stories of success and inspiration that you’ve made possible by giving your time and money to The Salvation Army. The stories have taken place since Thanksgiving throughout Minnesota and North Dakota.

 

Check back for more stories in the weeks leading up to and after Christmas.

No joke: 200-hour bell ringer’s last name is Winterringer: A 45-year-old man (pictured) in Grand Rapids, Minn., is scheduled to ring bells in the cold and snow for more than 200 hours this Christmas season. Incredibly, the man’s last name is none other than … Winterringer.

Five burning questions for firefighter who bell rings: St. Paul firefighter Bob Kipples explains the connection between firefighters and The Salvation Army, why he rings bells, and – on a separate note – whether he has ever rescued a puppy from a burning building.

100 notes of thanks: Recently we received more than 100 touching thank you letters from people served by The Salvation Army in Minnesota and North Dakota. These are the people you are helping when you donate money or ring bells.

Mmm, peach cobbler: Your Christmastime donations are allowing The Salvation Army to help a mother of four (pictured) open her own bakery. Her specialty is peach cobbler, which she’s been selling online with great success.

Identity thieves can’t steal Williston man’s resolve: Identity theft is even harder to overcome for people already struggling to make ends meet. Thanks to your kettle donations, The Salvation Army in Williston, N.D., is helping a man take back his life.

Thanksgiving highlights

Heartwarming Thanksgiving video: Each November, a group of Salvation Army supporters writes uplifting messages on placemats for our Thanksgiving meal guests. To demonstrate how valuable this gesture is, we filmed some of our guests reading the messages.

Minnesota Vikings give Turkey Day blessings: The Minnesota Vikings helped make Thanksgiving special for thousands of Twin Cities families by partnering with The Salvation Army in three separate donations.

Blue Door Pub donates 1,000 turkey dinners: For the past few years, Blue Door Pub has donated a couple hundred Thanksgiving meals to the Twin Cities Salvation Army. This Thanksgiving, the company upped its game.

 

The Salvation Army kicked off the 2016 kettle season by breaking a Guinness World Record on Nov. 19 at Mall of America during an historic event dubbed “The Big Ring.”

 

Exactly 664 handbell musicians from 24 states across the country gathered to play an original, five-minute arrangement. They broke the previous record of 560 musicians, set in Japan in 2013.

• Watch video highlights
• View photos

Video: See the Performance

 

 

Bell ringing is a fun and easy way to raise money for your neighbors in need. Just two hours at a kettle raises an average of $60 – enough money for The Salvation Army to provide two days of shelter and meals for a person experiencing homelessness.

There are hundreds of kettle locations across Minnesota and North Dakota. Find a kettle in your neck of the woods and register today. Signing up only takes a minute.

Video: Bell ringer #KettleKaraoke

Once you’ve finished registering, watch the video below for a preview of how much fun you’re going to have at the kettle.

 

Please give to The Salvation Army this Christmas season. Any amount of money you can donate will help the people we serve, in ways large and small.

 

We can use $1 to buy toothbrushes for a family with nothing. $20 buys that family a full day’s worth of nutritious food. $150 feeds them for a week.

Please give at a kettle or donate online. Or, encourage your friends, family and coworkers to give by starting a Red Kettle Reason fundraiser.

Rest assured, The Salvation Army is one of the most efficient charities anywhere. About 83 cents of every dollar you donate goes directly to help people in crisis.