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…for Christmas
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IPHONE APPLICATION—Now you can download The Salvation Army Bellringer app onto your iPhone and share the tradition of the Red Kettle experience—every time you shake your phone you ring the bell. It’s a fun way to raise awareness of those in need and share tunes of the season.
With 12 different tones to choose from, you can create unique sounds, play your favorites or even make up your own on-the-spot jingle.
The notes are your choice but the results are all the same: lives will change for the better, hungry families will have food, homeless will find shelter, rehab for addicts will continue, at-risk children will find hope and victims of disasters will receive relief.
So ring your bell. Share your hope. Help The Salvation Army continue Doing the Most Good.
CATCH A COIN—The Eastern Michigan Division has come up with a unique—and fun—way to solicit and receive Red Kettle donations.
Partnering with an anonymous donor, the Army set up an online game called “SA Coin Catch,” which involves maneuvering a Red Kettle back and forth to catch pennies as they fall. Spiders and mousetraps are also falling, however, and if you catch one you lose your kettle. It’s not always as easy as it sounds.
The donor will match every penny caught as a donation to The Salvation Army.
The site—salarmycoincatch.com—is sharable on Facebook, Twitter and e-mail.
BOXES OF LOVE (BOL)—These food boxes for holiday Angel Tree distribution help needy families during the holiday season. This year, unfortunately, many corps are having difficulty accumulating enough groceries to meet the high demand brought on by the current unemployment rate.
To remedy this, some are contacting youth clubs, churches and service organizations with which to combine efforts. Corps members are distributing empty boxes and asking facility patrons—corps and advisory board members, SAY Yes (tutoring services) and senior programs—to reach out to friends, family, neighbors, teachers and schoolmates to help fill them.
The empty boxes contain a description of what is needed, how to do it, and an opportunity to make a money donation. Filled boxes are returned to the corps by the due date indicated in the box.
Donated food can then be transferred to Salvation Army boxes. Any extra food can supplement the corps’ food pantry for later disbursement.
Some divisional headquarters are posting BOL requests on their websites.
GIVE A GOAT—People in many third-world countries walk a fine line between life and death. The Salvation Army’s “Just Animals” program offers an opportunity to help them by the simple purchase of a chicken, pig, cow, goat or silkworm eggs. Every animal purchased is a life-saving gift to a needy family in an impoverished country. Here is how it works.
The animals provide income as well as food: chickens lay eggs, cows and goats give milk and silkworms provide silk—all sellable items. In addition, all gift animals are purchased from previous recipients, allowing them an additional source of revenue.
For more information visit www.sps-shop.com.
