Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign 2018 wraps up the season with a funding increase for Chelan Valley Hope

CHELAN - ‘Twas the Salvation Army Red Kettle season from Hot Friday through Christmas Eve … and thanks to 125+ volunteer bell ringers stationed at the kettles, $10,640 in coins and bills was collected from our generous community. This beat last year’s total by more than $3,000. All of these funds remain available to Chelan Valley Hope to distribute to families and individuals with urgent critical needs.  This is accomplished using Salvation Army vouchers to pay for rent assistance to avoid eviction, or for help with a utility bill to prevent shut-off or for gas to get to Wenatchee for a necessary medical appointment when the family is short on cash, or even to pay for a night or two in the motel for a family stranded with no place to stay. Confidential interviews are conducted at our office to verify need and offer coaching and planning for avoiding future hardships.

Last year’s Kettle campaign brought in $7,600, which provided about 21% of the total amount of financial support to client households allocated throughout the year.  The chart below shows how the funds were distributed to the 67 recipients in 2018.

Jeanne Giddings, the Chelan Valley Hope Coordinator for this event, starts recruiting in October to fill the bell ringing schedule; then does the reminders and replacements, and oversees the kettle management .  The main Friday and Saturday locations, Safeway in Chelan and Red Apple in Manson, are both great partners in allowing indoor placement for our bell ringers and a secure place for kettle storage.  This year we added a mid-week kettle at the Chelan Post Office on Wednesdays.  Cashmere Valley Bank tellers graciously count the cash in the kettles every Monday and the bank supplies the check to Salvation Army along with the report.  Also, we want to express our appreciation to the many organizations in our Valley who recruit bell ringers to fill our kettle shifts in both Manson and Chelan and to the community members who volunteer directly to Chelan Valley Hope.