Show of hands … how many people have seen a Salvation Army red kettle on a street corner, at the mall or in front of your local Walmart store this year? Okay … how many people have dropped some spare change or a buck or two into a kettle? Alright … now a trickier one … who knows where this money goes?
Stumped?
Since 1891, the money raised during the annual Red Kettle Christmas Campaign – our largest fundraiser of the year - has gone to help people facing a variety of life challenges in communities nationwide. Red Kettle donations may help someone who is homeless, who can’t pay their rent, who is struggling with a drug or alcohol addiction, who was displaced by a hurricane or other disaster, or someone who just needs an extra hand getting Christmas gifts for their loved ones.
And that’s just a few of the things we do.
The Salvation Army believes strongly that local oversight of social services is the best way to meet community needs. That means that all money raised in the red kettles stays in the local community. It also means that the programs we provide in my hometown of Alexandria, VA, may not be the same as those we provide in Seattle or Boston. We do our best to customize based on local need. But, you can always count on us doing the most good to help with money we raise in the kettles.
So, how does Walmart fit in to all of this? Well, Walmart is our single largest retail partner at Christmas. In fact, around a quarter of all donations to red kettles each year are made in front of Walmart stores – in 2008, that meant $34 million out of $130 million raised overall. And that’s just the beginning of the great partnership we’ve had with Walmart stretching back more than 20 years. Some other highlights:
- In addition to allowing kettles in front of stores, Walmart typically donates around $1 million dollars to the Army each Christmas
- Following Hurricane Katrina, Walmart provided not only monetary but also significant logistical support to The Salvation Army to make sure we could get help to those who needed it
- In 2005, Walmart was the Army’s first corporate partner to host their very own Online Red Kettle on their home page.
- A couple of years ago, Walmart produced one of my all-time favorite Salvation Army commercials:
We’re very excited to be a part of this program at Walmartgiving.com and I look forward to sharing some stories with you in the coming weeks about how the Army gives back in local communities at Christmas and throughout the year.