Salvation Army rings for donations
Alexander Bryan rings his bell outside Safeway in Moses Lake for donations to The Salvation Army.
MOSES LAKE — Ever wondered what the bundled-up volunteers ringing hand bells next to a red kettle around town are doing?
The Salvation Army’s Kettle program posts representatives outside businesses in Ephrata and Moses Lake in hopes of collecting donations of money to help community members.
Last year the program raised $41,000. The Salvation Army uses the money to help the people in the community where the money was collected.
“If the money is collected in Moses Lake, it stays there to help the people,” says Ken Palek, Grant County’s service representative for the Salvation Army. “It seems like the need for donations increases as the money donated diminishes. That’s the way it goes.”
The program began Nov. 19 with volunteers posted outside Walmart and Safeway in Ephrata and Lep-re-kon Harvest Foods, Big R, Walmart and Safeway in Moses Lake.
“Every now and then you get a battery and some pennies,” says Randy Brooks, who helps coordinate the program. “But there’s such a need. People don’t realize how many are homeless in Grant County.”
So far the program has collected $12,000 in donations.
“We collect probably $1,000 in change every week,” Palek says. “But when you are sleeping under a bush, you need a blanket, you need food. Those are the things this goes to.”
Hand bell ringer Dillon De La Torre says it’s his first year doing this and says he likes seeing people donate.
“Mainly the older people donate, and children, they take it right out of their own pocket and donate it,” says De La Torre.
Palek says the Salvation Army uses the donations to help people in need get food, clothing, pay for utilities, including rent, and utilities, get household appliances and even buy firewood.
“I don’t plan to have anything left here,” Palek says. “I plan to give out everything I can get out.”
Kettle program representatives work 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. every day except Sunday.
For more information or to make a donation, call 509-766-5875.
The Salvation Army is located at 212 Alder St. in Moses Lake.