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Contact: Burch Antley (803) 319-4632, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
For many years our club has supported the Salvation Army’s famous Red Kettle Campaign held annually during the holiday season. Our 2011 “bell ringing” dates and locations are as follows:
Sat., Dec. 3rd and Sat., Dec. 10th from 10 am to 8pm
Bi-Lo on Two Notch Rd. (Spring Valley Commons Shopping Center)
Kroger on Two Notch Rd. (Corner of Two Notch and Sparkleberry)
Sat., Dec. 17th from 10 am to 8pm
Wal-Mart on Two Notch Rd. (Food Side Entrance)
Kroger on Two Notch Rd. (Corner of Two Notch and Sparkleberry)
Contact Burch to sign up for your two-hour shift. We need two members per shift at each location.
Rotarian Bobby Curtis and his son Rob participated in the 2010 Bell Ringing Campaign at the Spring Valley Wal-Mart.
About the Salvation Army
The Salvation Army was founded in 1865 by William Booth, in London, England. The Salvation Army established a corps in Columbia, SC, in 1906 and has been serving people living in extreme poverty in the Midlands for more than 100 years.
The Salvation Army, as an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian church. Social Service programs provided by The Salvation Army focus on those living in the most extreme poverty in the Midlands. From serving daily meals to providing Christmas toys to families in need, The Salvation Army reaches out to those in our community who need assistance. Visit: www.doingthemostgood.org for more information.
The Origin of the Christmas Kettle
The Salvation Army Captain in San Francisco had resolved, in December of 1891, to provide a free Christmas dinner to the area’s poor persons. But how would he pay for the food?
As he went about his daily tasks, the question stayed in his mind. Suddenly, his thoughts went back to his days as a sailor in Liverpool, England. On the Stage Landing he saw a large pot, called “Simpson’s pot” into which charitable donations were thrown by passers-by.
On the next morning, he secured permission from the authorities to place a similar pot at the Oakland ferry landing, at the foot of Market Street. No time was lost in securing the pot and placing it in a conspicuous position, so that it could be seen by all those going to and from the ferry boats. In addition, a brass urn was placed on a stand in the waiting room for the same purpose.
Thus, Captain Joseph McFee launched a tradition that has spread not only throughout the United States, but throughout the world.
By Christmas, 1895, the kettle was used in 30 Salvation Army locations in various sections of the West Coast area. The Sacramento Bee of that year carried a description of the Army’s Christmas activities and mentioned the contributions to street corner kettles. Shortly afterward, two young Salvation Army officers who had been instrumental in the original use of the kettle, William A. McIntyre and N.J. Lewis, were transferred to the East. They took with them the idea of the Christmas kettle.
In 1897, McIntyre prepared his Christmas plans for Boston around the kettle, but his fellow officers refused to cooperate for fear of “making spectacles of themselves.” So McIntyre, his wife and sister set up three kettles at the Washington Street thoroughfare in the heart of the city. That year the kettle effort in Boston and other locations nationwide resulted in 150,000 Christmas dinners for the needy.
In 1898, the New York World hailed The Salvation Army kettles as “the newest and most novel device for collecting money.” The newspaper also observed, “There is a man in charge to see that contributions are not stolen.”
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, donations to Salvation Army kettles at Christmas time support holiday meals for homeless and needy families, but also help The Salvation Army serve over 30 million people a year through a myriad of other services all year long.
Kettles now are used in such distant lands as Korea, Japan, and Chile, and in many European countries. Everywhere, public contributions to the kettles enable The Salvation Army to bring the spirit of Christmas to those who would otherwise be forgotten all year long – to the aged and lonely, the ill, the inmates of jails and other institutions, the poor and unfortunate. In the United States, kettles at Thanksgiving and Christmas, although changed since the first utilitarian cauldron set up in San Francisco, help make it possible for The Salvation Army to do the most good possible for over 29 million people each year.