Salvation Army Kettle Kick Off is a success

From Donna Ortendahl–Field Representative – The Salvation Army;

Becky Schlangen–The Salvation Army Red Kettle Coordinator;

Shannon Bodeker–Social Services Coordinator I – Douglas/Pope Counties

The Salvation Army in Pope County would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to all those who helped us with our Kettle Kick Off at Tom’s Market on Friday, Nov. 17.

We would like to thank all the individuals who helped ring that night or helped with serving the coffee, hot chocolate, and cookies.  We want to thank Fire Chief Bruce Cerney, from the Glenwood Fire Department, who came to ring the bells for us. He brought the fire truck and extended the ladder and turned the lights on for all to see!  The kids that came had a great time seeing the fire engine and all had smiles on their faces when they came into the store to get a cup of hot chocolate and a cookie from our helpers Jeanie Person and Shannon Bodeker.

Thank you to Becky Schlangen or Kettle Coordinator for setting out our kettles and collecting our donations.  A special thank you to Wes Torguson for coming and ringing for us that night.  We also appreciate Wes’s continued support and his many hours he gives bell ringing at our kettle in Starbuck. We extend a thank you to Mavis Pattee, Neil Haynes, and Sheriff Deputy Michael Nadeau for coming and ringing for us that night.  We want to say a big thank you to Tom’s Market in Glenwood and Starbuck for their generosity in letting us ring at their stores. A big thank you to Lee Ortendahl, manager at Tom’s Market for his assistance helping us get our tables set up that night and making sure we had everything we needed.

We were able to raise $400.84 in a 2-hour period that night at our kettle kick off here in Glenwood!  What an amazing community we live in.

Thank you to Tim Douglass at the Pope County Tribune for putting our pictures and our kettle announcement into the paper. Thank you to Steve Nestor at Magic 107.1 for putting our request for bell ringers into their daily announcements. Thank you to the Glenwood Chamber of Commerce for putting our announcement for bell ringers out there on their page. They all helped us spread the word that we needed the community’s assistance with our campaign this year.  You still have time to come help us.  We ring every day but Sunday at both Tom’s Market locations.  We ring all the way through December 23rd.  You can go to registertoring.com or call Becky Schlangen at 320-219-8270 to sign up for your bell ringing day and time.  Come help us, help those in need.

If you would like to send a donation, please send it to: The Salvation Army, c/o Viking Towers Office, 805 Fillmore Street, Alexandria, MN 56308.  Please make the check out to Pope County Salvation Army and the money will be put into the Pope County Salvation Army account.

May God bless you!