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Vikings and Packers help kick off Red Kettle season.
Wide receivers from football’s Green Bay Packers squared off with Vikings’ defensive linemen for an hour-long Red Kettle ring-off battle on October 30.
Donald Driver, Greg Jennings, James Jones, Jordy Nelson and Brett Swain—Packers’ receivers—took on Vikings’ defensive line coach Karl Dunbar and defense team members in a clash to identify who has the strongest bell ringers by “selling” their autographs to fans to raise contributions for The Salvation Army’s Red Kettle Christmas Campaign.
Each team member was on hand to ring their bell and trade their signature for donations. The Packers took position in the Lambeau Field Atrium while the Vikings simultaneously rang their bells at a Salvation Army site in the Minneapolis area.
The Packers warmed up with a “pre-game show” an hour before the competition started.
As a bonus, the Packers’ project “Hunting Down Hunger” Orange Hat Campaign ran alongside the kettle contest with proceeds from the one-hour battle going to The Salvation Army’s hunger support programs.
The Vikings may have defeated the Packers on the field but that didn’t ring true at the challenge. The final score was Vikings, $5,872; Packers, $11,501.
Of the Vikings final dollar amount, $2,700 was raised through the team’s online red kettle.