(Seguin) –The sounds of the holiday season have returned outside the Seguin Walmart store. The sounds of handbells officially mark the start of the Salvation Army’s Kettle Campaign.
Volunteer bell ringers, the day after Thanksgiving, returned to their post outside both store entrances.
Chaplain Tom Jones, of the Salvation Army, the campaign which collects your loose change, dollar bills and checks continues through 5 p.m. Christmas Eve, Dec. 24.
“We are out there from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. We don’t ring on Sundays, but we are out there. It’s just a lot of fun,” said Jones.
Jones there are prerequisites for people to ring the bell. He says everyone is welcome and encouraged to sign-up.
“It’s usually a two-hour commitment to ring the bells but it’s so much fun and it’s inspiring to see how generous people are. I’ve lived in a lot of different places but I have never seen such generosity as I see here in Seguin and so I will ring the bells for several hours myself this season just because it inspires me to see how many people love dropping pennies, dollars and sometimes, we get $100 bills in those buckets. They just love to be generous,” said Jones.
Jones says the goal for this year is to raise $40,000.
He says every penny collected goes directly to helping local families with their emergency needs year-round.
“The Salvation Army is for emergency help only. It’s not meant to be an ongoing assistance program. There are some programs like that, but this is meant to be for emergency help, and we help with utilities and rent and at times, we can help with gas, vehicles, a motel for overnight. We can help with lots of various needs so it’s really hard to say exactly what we do because the realm is pretty open,” said Jones.
Those wishing to ring the bells for the Kettle Campaign are asked to call 830-305-1352 or visit registertoring.com.