Here’s Where the Salvation Army Needs Bell Ringers

A distinctive sound of the season has been largely absent this Christmas.

The Salvation Army is short by hundreds of hours of volunteer slots for Red Kettle bell ringers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

There is a particular need for volunteer bell ringers in Fort Worth, Plano and Irving, according to a Salvation Army spokesperson.

Those who would like to volunteer their time in the remaining days of the Red Kettle campaign can do so here.

The ideal volunteers are those who can do so in groups, according to the Salvation Army, and take over a kettle site for a full day. That is much easier for the organization than having to manage the logistics of assigning individual volunteers “two hours here, three hours there.”

Not everyone is expected to give as much of their time as Marco Gudino, of Lewisville, who sometimes rings the bell from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. multiple days a week.

“It’s a good time, and for a good cause,” said Gudino, who leaned on the Salvation Army for assistance when he first moved to North Texas from Chicago. “God is going to bless all the families that need it.”

The Red Kettle Campaign — which runs from Thanksgiving to Christmas — typically accounts for about one-third of the total amount of money raised by the Salvation Army in an entire year.