ARKANSAS, USA — As the holidays are swiftly approaching, the Salvation Army’s Red Kettle Campaign is kicking off in the River Valley and Northwest Arkansas.
The Salvation Army of Fort Smith's campaign started Tuesday, Nov. 13, and in Northwest Arkansas, it started Saturday, Nov. 16. Both will run through Dec. 24.
Capt. Bradley Hargis with the Salvation Army of Fort Smith said even though the campaign has already started, volunteers are still needed.
“We’re looking better than we have looked the last couple years, but we still have many more hours, about 40,000 hours, that we still need to get clocked,” Hargis said.
You can sign up to volunteer here.
Hargis said the more people volunteer to ring a bell, the more funds are raised for helping people in the local community.
“If we don't have volunteers, we do have to pay staff in order to man those sites, and that just means that it cuts into our net proceeds that we actually raise in our Red Kettle campaign,” Hargis said.
Whether you donate online or at the kettle, he added funds from the campaign are directly used to support local programs in the River Valley.
“We usually feed about 150 people every evening,” Hargis said. “It also helps at-risk children, as well as helping those that are staying in our emergency family shelter. We also use some of that for disaster service and various things like our community Thanksgiving meal or our fan drive in the summer.”