Day 4 – Give to the poor. Does that foodbank need some canned food? Do you have some clothes that could be donated? Donate every time you see a Salvation Army bell ringer.
I thought I would find out why the Salvation Army kettles are red, but apparently, they just are. The idea of collecting donations for the poor in a kettle started in San Francisco in 1891. It spread quickly to other Salvation Army regions, and now the red kettles are found around the world.
Some of the bell ringers are volunteers, and some of them are paid minimum wage. It turns out the bells are more interesting than the kettles. In 1900 in New York City, a volunteer named Amelia bought a 10-cent bell to ring while asking for donations, and many more people paid attention to her. With that success, other volunteers started using bells, and now we hear them everywhere. I personally like the sound and love seeing a kettle outside of stores.
Here is the best part about the bell ringers. The song “Silver Bells,” one of my favorites, was inspired by the Salvation Army bell ringers. Those are the silver bells mentioned in the song. Here is the article from Holidappy:
“Silver Bells” was written for the movie, The Lemon Drop Kid, starring Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell in 1951. It was written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, who were very reluctant to write a Christmas song as new ones had never made the hit list. Their uncertainty about taking on such a project also stemmed from the fact that their contracts were coming due and they had not written a hit in a while. Another flop would have sealed their fate.
Because the studio was insistent on a new Christmas song being written for this movie, the duo wrote a song based on department store Santas and Salvation Army workers tinkling their bells on New York street corners. They named their song, “Tinkle Bell” and fortunately for all of us, Jay told his wife about the song, including their name for it. Asking Jay if he was out of his mind, she proceeded to inform him of the slang meaning of ‘tinkle’ understood by most people.”
Luckily, Jay listened to his wife, and Tinkle Bells” became “Silver Bells.”
I always carry change with me in December, so I can drop a few coins in every kettle I see and wish the bell ringers a Merry Christmas. Every little bit can help.