10 days remain until Christmas. Bows don street posts, pine scents the air and, from Main Street to Macy’s, all I hear are bells, bells, bells. Salvation Army bells to be specific.
Is it just me, or are these people everywhere this year? Yesterday, I went to Publix…bell ringer. Today at Walmart…bell ringer. CVS…bell ringer. I got in my car to drive home, looked in the back seat…bell ringer.
Truth be told, I like the sound of the bells. They’re pretty. It’s the extent to which they’re deployed that troubles me. They start the day after Thanksgiving and continue through Christmas Eve. For four weeks/28 days/672 hours, you can’t approach the doors of a single retail establishment without hearing the din and passing the signature red bucket.
Isn’t it a bit much?
Then, of course, you have the adjacent goodwill ambassador eyeing each advancing patron, beckoning a dollar to his or her kettle. At least when I was a kid, they dressed as Santa. Now, they just stumble into their shift in whatever crumpled sweater they snatched off the bedroom floor.
Yet, somehow, it works. And it works BIG. In 2017, the Salvation Army’s Red Kettle Campaign brought in $145 million to support initiatives including feeding children and families, assisting with natural disaster recovery and battling poverty, addiction and homelessness. Nickels and dimes and tens and twenties add up in a hurry when you’re working nationwide.
They say there’s no arguing with success. Unfortunately, I can’t hear them over the ringing in my ears.