ALTON - The bell ringers at the red kettles officially stopped on Christmas Eve, but The Salvation Army in Alton is extending the campaign unofficially to Dec. 31 with hopes of reaching its goal of $99,000.
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After a flourish of donations prior to Christmas Day, the kettle number stands at $83,000, Kettle Coordinator Greg Gelzinnis said Christmas Day afternoon. “Indications are that the community wants to light the star, which we will do if we get to $99,000. We are going to unofficially keep the campaign open until Dec. 31 of this month to give folks the opportunity to light the store and continue to donate.”
Gelzinnis came down from the lift that had been his home since 2 p.m. Wednesday at 2 p.m. on Thursday, Christmas Eve.
Salvation Army Lt. Teri Ellison who was with the counting team, said, “We saw historic numbers coming in today (Thursday) In fact, the level of giving by our community this entire Christmas week has been simply amazing.”
Lt. Bryan Ellison agreed, “We have always been excited to get one gold coin, and this season we have received two along with two large silver coins…it has just been magical.”
Christmas week started with Monday’s count from the weekend which brought in over $14,000 and took the campaign total from $50,087.70 to just over $64,000.00, and then Monday’s total was another $3,233.28 (when typical Monday’s are less than $1,000.00) taking the week’s beginning total up to almost $67,500.00.
Gelzinnis said, “While I was up in the lift, the numbers kept rising just as I was.” He added, “The community helped us add another $9,000.00 just this week in three days.”
Tree of Lights Chair-family member and Alton Corps Advisory Board Chairman, Kevin Botterbush said, “We just can’t thank the community enough for their support, they really came through.” He added, “I also want to say a special thanks to the Woodman family at Woodman Collision Center for their Counter Kettle “matching gift” program that helped raise over $1,500.00, and to all of the advisory board members that rang bells during the campaign.”
Lt. Bryan Ellison said, this year’s total is already $16,000.00 over last year’s total of $67,000.00 and is the largest total that the Alton Corps has had in years using all volunteer bell ringers.
He added, “We do know of several business gifts that we are due to receive that were not able to be made by the 24th, and in fact, we received two $100 donations (after today’s count was completed) as we were returning the kettle stands back to the Alby Street Headquarters…and so we believe that there may be others that do wish to contribute before the end of the year.”
Gelzinnis, said, “If you wish to make a gift towards ‘Lighting The Star’, it may be mailed to the Salvation Army – Alton Corps; 525 Alby St.; Alton, IL, 62002 but must be postmarked by Dec. 31, 2015. Donations may also still be made on-line at www.onlineredkettle.org/alton and also need to be made by the 31st.” If someone is wishing to make a larger donation and in need of a receipt for that gift for tax purposes, Gelzinnis may be contacted by phone at 618-550-9291 this coming week and will be happy to make the necessary arrangements.
Gelzinnis said in some small way, my 24-hour fast and time spent “homeless” helped increase the awareness of issues that are prevalent here in our community, or encouraged members of our community to get more involved, then it was completely worth it.
“It most certainly has caused me to better appreciate what I have and inspired me to work even harder for those I am privileged to serve,” he said.
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