Time is ticking to make a donation for the Red Kettle Campaign

SALISBURY, Md.- It doesn’t matter how much you give, it can only be a dollar, but the Salvation Army told us that every penny that is donated this time of year counts.

“People see us, it kind of goes over their head because we’ve become a fixture this time of year, give everything you can,” Bill Westerlund, Red Kettle Campaign bell ringer, said.

For bell ringer Westerlund, this is the first year he’s ringing this bell outside the Fruitland Walmart for The Salvation Army Lower Eastern Shore Red Kettle Campaign. He said it’s just a small way he can give back to his community.

“I don’t really feel that I’m doing anything special, I really don’t this is just something that everybody should really consider,” Westerlund said.

Westerlund said the amount of people he sees donating is different by the hour.

“The traffic changes throughout the course of the day, but as people see other people making donations it makes a difference,” Westerlund said.

Adding, one woman really went above and beyond with her donation.

“Last Saturday, one of my first customers’ clients donators donates if you will rolled by in her vehicle put out a bill and I said I’ll stick it in the kettle for you it was a $100, now that was pretty magnanimous,” Westerlund said.

But now, with just a few more days left to give for this campaign, Captain Matthew Trantham, with Salvation Army Lower Eastern Shore, said donation numbers aren’t where they’d like them to be

“We stop ringing on Christmas Eve and we are still short of our goal our goal is over $140,000 and we need to finish strong,” Trantham said.

So, he hopes the community will help boost those numbers with a final push.

“We need people to still be donating at the red kettles, sending us checks, getting us all the finances that we need so that the salvation army can continue to achieve our mission all year long,” Trantham said.

To donate to the campaign, click here.