Ring in the Season

The Salvation Army's red kettles help provide much-needed assistance to the poor and homeless. Now in today's economy, people are struggling to not only put food on their tables, but they are struggling to keep their homes and keep their families together. Here in Medina County, the Northern Service Unit will start their "volunteer" bell ringing campaign on Thanksgiving Eve. Won't you donate one hour of your time to ring the bell? What goes in the kettle stays here in Valley City, Brunswick, Brunswick Hills and Hinckley.

We don't think of these communities as needing any assistance, but they certainly do. In addition, I am accepting donations for the Annual Christmas Stocking Campaign. This year, Tim Rhodes of Howard Hanna Mortgage is purchasing 150 Christmas Stockings for us to fill for the needy children in this Northern part of the county. Also, Buehler's in Brunswick will have an Angel Tree. Children in need who will have no Christmas without our help have their "Angel" on the tree. Please take an angel representing a child and purchase a gift.

Can you help provide something to fill the stockings with? Or, can you send me a tax-deductible check for $10, made out to the Salvation Army for me to purchase stocking stuffers?

My address: Judy Von Duyke, 7240 West Law Road, Valley City, Ohio 44280. Call my cell:

330-760-1623

Thank you for your one hour of time, and thank you for thinking of today's children.

The stories thait are heard from people dropping coins or dollars into the kettle are always heart warming. Solders needs have been met, disaster victims helped and families everywhere are given hope and help. What is the price? Nothing. What is the cost? Great.

Won't you help this year?

Here is a brief history of the Kettle.

The Salvation Army's red kettles have become a Christmas tradition in nearly every part of the world, but the idea for the little collection pots was born over a century ago, from prayer and desperation.
The red kettle story goes back to 1891, when Joseph McFee, a Salvation Army captain in San Francisco, California, was overwhelmed with the number of poor in that city. McFee had a simple idea. He wanted to provide free Christmas dinners to 1,000 of the poorest of those people, to give them some holiday hope. Sadly, he had no money for the meals.
McFee tossed and turned at night, praying and thinking about the problem. Slowly, a solution came. He recalled his days as a sailor in Liverpool, England. At Stage Landing, where the ships docked, a large iron kettle called "Simpson's Pot" had been placed. People walking by would toss in a coin or two for the needy.
Finding a pot, Captain McFee put it at the Oakland Ferry Landing, by the foot of San Francisco's busy Market Street. He placed a sign next to it that read, "Keep the Pot Boiling." Word got around quickly, and by Christmas the kettle had raised enough money to feed the poor.

Over the decades, the Salvation Army's red kettle collections have raised millions of dollars for the organization's work. Each year, the Salvation Army serves more than 4.5 million people during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.