12 Days of Charity - Day 2

The Salvation Army is not a new charity for me.  Every year while shopping I would drop some change in their familiar red kettle and wish the volunteer bell ringer a 'Merry Christmas'.
Occasionally when I clean out closets or de-clutter the house, I throw the items in a box and arrange to have the Salvation Army pick up the box(es).

This year I had a new experience with the Salvation Army.  I was a volunteer bell ringer!  Our church arranged to ring the bells over several hours and asked for volunteers for 30 minute intervals.   My daughter and I took one of the slots.

First, we are thankful that it was a warm day - we didn't even need our coats.  We greeted everyone we saw with "Merry Christmas" and got lots of smiles, thank yous and Christmas greetings in return.  A large percentage of the people coming and going stopped to add to the kettle.  Some with a few coins and some with $5 bills.  At one time we even had 4 people standing in line to add to the kettle.  What a great thing to see with the economic hardships we hear of every day.

It was especially heartwarming to see children putting in a few coins.  Kudos to the parents who are bringing them up to give to others.  Charity does begin at home.

I was curious as to how the red kettles came about and found this article describing the founder.
http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/red-kettle-history

And as promised - here is another Christmas card design.

This card was based on an original designed by my niece, Jamie.  Using the Gorgeous Grunge "splatter" I made a tree of Old Olive.  I added some Cherry Cobbler stars and the sentiment.  This is mounted on some Cherry Cobbler DSP and then the Old Olive card base.   A fun card and no two would be exactly the same.