Salvation Army hopes Red Kettle campaign will bounce back, missed goal last year by $50k

Little Rock, Arkansas – The Salvation Army is counting on Arkansans to give generously throughout the Christmas season as part of its Red Kettle campaign. The Salvation Army’s Central Arkansas regional commander, Major Bill Mockabee, claims that this campaign is their biggest annual fund-raiser.

Mockabee claims that they fell $50,000 shy of their entire objective the previous year. He stated they were hoping to bounce back from their most recent defeat this year. Mockabee stated that they have other goals for the holiday season in addition to giving and ringing bells.

We had somewhat more than 900 volunteer hours last year for the entire season; this year, Mockabee added, “our objective is 1,500 hours, which is almost double what we did last year.”

Mockabee claims that volunteering increases the amount of money raised for the Red Kettle campaign. He claimed that out of the $260,000 they have raised so far this year, $36,000. Other difficulties, according to him, include a decline in cash usage and fewer visitation at their 52 kettle locations throughout Central Arkansas due to curbside delivery.

“Those are two big overarching issues that we see and we kind of contribute some of the downward trend to those things,” he said.

Mockabee claims that they still require volunteers. He stated that although there are 16,000 volunteer hours available, they are aiming for 1,500. According to him, they can only complete 16,000 volunteer hours if all open positions are filled between November 1 and December 24. The fundraising window is between those dates.

Marvin Fisher has been a volunteer for three years, and as of his second year, he has been dressing up. When he volunteers, he thinks it inspires Arkansans to give more.

“I had on Uncle Sam on for Election Day, had Captain America on for Veteran’s Day, I had the deer hunter costume on for deer hunting season,” Fisher said.

Fisher claims that he wore 18 different outfits the previous year and would wear 17 this year. He thinks that making a special effort to dress up in those costumes will make those who are providing a helping hand grin.

Every dollar raised, according to Mockabee, stays locally. He said that the funds support a number of initiatives, such as efforts to avoid homelessness, the provision of emergency shelter, and their Angel Tree program, which provides toys to children who are not adopted.