Kettle Donations: Keeping the lights on
Ever wonder how The Salvation Army uses your red kettle donations?
If so, you’re not alone. For 125 years, people have been dropping money into red kettles blissfully unaware of the drastic amounts of good they are accomplishing.
“Kettle Donations” is an eight-part series that provides answers. We’ll explore a new Salvation Army program every week until Christmas. In the end, you’ll understand precisely how your kettle donations change lives during the Christmas season and year-round.
Your red kettle donations keep the lights on for people and families facing a shut-off notice.
The Salvation Army provides energy assistance to thousands of families across Minnesota and North Dakota, including advocacy and direct financial assistance. We are a last resort for people who have exhausted all other available resources.
These services are provided according to one basic guideline: need.
Energy assistance is a blessing to people like Kormasah Cherney (pictured), who struggled to pay her utility bills while attending school to become a medical assistant. Eventually, her electricity was shut off.
“Between rent and utilities, there’s nothing left over,” she said. “It’s either pay the utility bill, or pay for food.”
Thankfully, The Salvation Army was able to help her get caught up on her bills.
Here are two more success stories, recently submitted by Salvation Army social workers:
- A woman arrived in tears. The day before, she had received disconnect notices from her electric and gas companies. She said she didn’t know where else to go. She said she was behind on her utility payments because her husband had been out of work due to cancer treatments. She said it was hard enough worrying about losing her husband, and now she had to worry about losing her heat and lights. I called both utility companies and was able to delay the disconnect notices, allowing the woman enough time to apply for Salvation Army energy assistance.
- A man with developmental disabilities was in danger of having his electricity shut off. His personal care attendant was in charge of paying his electricity bill, but had neglected to pay it for quite some time. By now, the man was too far behind to catch up. Thankfully, we were able to work with the county to get the man caught up, with the county paying a portion of the electricity and The Salvation Army paying the rest.
2015 kettle season
This year’s kettle season ends Dec. 24, but there’s still time to get out there and donate.
There are about 900 kettle locations throughout Minnesota and North Dakota. Please give a little something each time you pass by one, knowing your gift will help The Salvation Army to keep the lights on for a family facing a disconnect notice.
If you’d like to take your kettle experience to the next level, sign up to be a bell ringer. In just two hours you’ll raise an average of $60 – the cost of a typical monthly electrical bill.