For whom the bell tolls

It’s that time of year again.

Red kettles will sit outside of area stores while winter coat clad Salvation Army employees and volunteers vigorously ring their bells for donations.

Lee Bratcher of Beatrice rings his bell at Wal-Mart and has been ringing the bell since childhood.

“I started volunteering when I was five with my aunt. She was an officer and I rang the bells with her,” he said.

Bratcher is now a paid holiday bell ringer for the Salvation Army.

All ringers will be at their locations now, ringing bells for donations, Jodi Williams, Beatrice Salvation Army secretary said.

Locations in Beatrice are Wal-Mart, Indian Creek Mall, Alco, the Beatrice Supermarket, Sunmart and Pamida.

“(The donations) stay in Beatrice,” Williams said.

The money benefits The Salvation Army youth and adult programs, she said. Those programs range from Christmas meals around the holidays to year-round food assistance and much-needed baby and school supplies.

The Salvation Army bell ringers originated in 1891 when Capt. Joseph McFee of San Francisco wanted to help out the less fortunate for the holiday season with a dinner.

Not sure where to get funding, he remembered seeing in England a kettle for donations to the poor. Capt. McFee set out a kettle himself with a sign that read “Keep the Pot Boiling” and was able to raise enough for a Christmas dinner.

In 1897, the red kettle idea had spread so far that, nationwide, 150,000 dinners were provided for poor people during the holidays.

Bell ringers were eventually added, and some go further than bell ringing, singing carols or playing instruments near their red kettles to raise more donations.

Bratcher said that, even if you only have some change to put in his bucket, he doesn’t mind.

“Every cent helps. Every penny helps. It all adds up,” he said.