Red Kettles Bring In More Than $400,000
The Rochester Salvation Army reached this first step toward its overall 2015 Red Kettle/Christmas goal of $1.075 million. A preliminary count of all kettle gifts found $401,160 entrusted, so far, to the kettles during the 35-day local campaign. Final tallies of both the Red Kettle portion and the overall campaign will be made available in early January, 2016.
Over 2,000 volunteers committed over 7,000 hours to the annual Christmas season of ringing, feeding and assisting for holiday shopping and toy and gift distribution.
The local charitable organization has until Thursday, Dec. 31 to solicit and encourage mailed and online gifts, and to take in tax deductible donations at its Community Center located at 20 NE 1st Avenue in downtown Rochester to reach the overall and larger campaign goal.
The Rochester Salvation Army concluded the kettle and ringing portion of the 2015 campaign at 5:00 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 24 but is still accepting checks, cash, credit card and mail gifts that arrive by noon on the 31st. Anyone interested in supporting The Salvation Army can still donate online or call in a credit card gift.
The Rochester Salvation Army relies on generous donations as an important part of its yearly Red Kettle/Christmas campaign which generates almost one-third of its annual funding. Funds stay local and are used for food, housing, healthcare, adult day care, and social programs. Over one-half of all local, annual Salvation Army funding comes from public support.