AMARILLO, TEXAS -- In the entire month of December we were used to seeing the Salvation Army's Bell Ringer's in front of United Supermarkets, Walmart's, and even the Westgate Mall. But what happened the day after Christmas. Many of those bell ringers are simply volunteers who went home to celebrate with families. Kathy Dodson, the Community Relations and Resource Director for Amarillo's Salvation Army, said people from all over the Panhandle came to volunteer. From Canadian to Borger and Childress, many skipped out on holiday events to help bring in funding for the Salvation Army.
In total, there were 24 locations and it's the biggest fundraiser for the organization. During the week, they even had to hire bell ringers to keep the locations full of that ringing sound. United Supermarkets helped; they had their employees ringing the bell for two days at their five locations in Amarillo and Canyon.
The Salvation Army had to make their yearly budget on the money they bring in, but they didn't get enough to meet their budget. The money raised helps keep the shelter open and provides year round service to all 26 counties in the panhandle.
While the program does help secure volunteers for the year, "When people come and help us, they see what it's really like and continue to volunteer throughout the year," said Dodson, it also needs to help secure more funding. "We still fell short of the cutoff, things like water heaters are breaking down at the shelter, so we're going to have to get private donations throughout the panhandle to try and repair them."
On it's website, The organization says it is a worldwide evangelical Christian church with its own distinctive governance and practice. The Army's doctrine follows the mainstream of Christian belief and its articles of faith emphasize God's saving purposes.Its message is based on the Bible. It provides adult rehabilitation services, emergency disaster services, social services, among other services.
If you would like to help, you can contact the Salvation Army by clicking here. The next event for the organization, is the Civic Annual Meeting at the Grand Plaza at the Amarillo Civic Center.
