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The Origin of the Red Kettle and The Salvation Army #RedKettleReason

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I participated in a campaign on behalf of Influence Central for The Salvation Army. I received a promotional item as a thank you for participating.

Do you know the origin of the Red Kettle and The Salvation Army? We’ve all seen that Red Kettle outside of stores around the holiday s with someone standing by it ringing a bell with a sign that says the Salvation Army!  Have you season.  Have you ever wondered where it started or even who the Salvation Army is?  I sure have.  I just recently found out what it is all about and wanted to share it with you!  But first I want to share a sweet story.  A few years ago I was walking into a store just after Thanksgiving with my young children. We hadn’t even started doing our 25 days of Christmas Service, but I had always talked to my kids about helping and loving others, especially those in need.  I think since we have had others help us, they understand that love of helping people in need.  My sweet children went to the car and we scrounged up a bunch of change to put in the red kettle.  I remember my son, if he knew we were going to the store would go around the house looking for spare change that season to put into the kettle!  

The Salvation Army is one of the world’s largest and oldest providers of social services. Originally established in London in 1865, the Army has been helping people for nearly 150 years internationally and for more than 130 years in the United States. 

 
The Origin of The Salvation Army Red Kettle
The Salvation Army’s Captain McFee in San Francisco had resolved in December of 1891 to provide a
free Christmas dinner to the area’s poor. But how would he pay for the food? As he went about his daily tasks, the question stayed in his mind. Suddenly, his thoughts went back to his days as a sailor in Liverpool, England. On the Stage Landing, where the boats came in, he saw a large pot into which charitable donations were thrown by passersby.

On the next morning, he secured permission from the authorities to place a similar pot at the Oakland

Ferry Landing, at the foot of Market Street. No time was lost in securing the pot and placing it in a conspicuous position so that it could be seen by all those going to and from the ferryboats. Thus, Captain Joseph McFee launched a tradition that has spread not only throughout the United States, but throughout the world. By Christmas 1895, the kettle was used in 30 Salvation Army locations in various sections of the West Coast area. The Sacramento Bee of that year carried a description of the Army’s Christmas activities and mentioned the contributions to street corner kettles. Shortly afterward, two young Salvation Army officers who had been instrumental in the original use of the kettle, William A. McIntyre and N.J. Lewis, were transferred to the East. They took with them the idea of the Christmas kettle. In 1897, McIntyre prepared his Christmas plans for Boston around the kettle, but his fellow officers refused to cooperate for fear of “making spectacles of themselves.” So McIntyre, his wife and sister set up three kettles at the Washington Street thoroughfare in the heart of the city. That year the kettle effort in Boston and other locations nationwide resulted in 150,000 Christmas dinners for the needy.
In 1898, the New York World hailed The Salvation Army kettles as “the newest and most novel device
for collecting money.” The newspaper also observed, “There is a man in charge to see that contributions are not stolen.” In 1901, kettle contributions in New York City provided funds for the first mammoth sit-down dinner in Madison Square Garden, a custom that continued for many years. Today, donations to The Salvation Army kettles at Christmas help support the nearly 30 million people served by the Army through shelters, after school programs, addiction recovery programs, summer camps, disaster assistance and many other social services. Kettles can now be found online and at sites in many foreign countries such as Korea, Japan, and Chile, many European countries and Australia. Online Red Kettles make donating even simpler and have raised millions of dollars in donations over the past seven years. 
 

This year, The Salvation Army is making Red Kettle Donations a social experience by encouraging people to share their reasons for giving with #RedKettleReason. It’s a chance for people to think about and share how their donations are making a difference. Wherever people find The Salvation Army, public contributions to the kettles enable The Salvation Army to bring the spirit of Christmas to those who would otherwise be forgotten all year long – to the aged and lonely, the ill, the inmates of jails and other institutions, the poor and unfortunate. In the United States, kettles at Thanksgiving and Christmas, although changed since the first utilitarian cauldron set up in San Francisco, help make it possible for The Salvation Army to do the most good possible for 30 million people each year.

To start your own Online Red Kettle, visit www.onlineredkettle.org
 

So there you go, that’s how it all began.  Here are some interesting facts about the Salvation Army….

  • The Salvation Army is a Faith-based mission that meets human needs in “HIS” name.
  • The Salvation Army serves millions of people through dozens of services directly targeting the needs of local communities – from homelessness to disaster relief to substance abuse rehabilitation.
  • Through the public’s generosity in 2013, in the United States alone: The Salvation Army served more than 58 million meals to the needy.
  • 204,000 people received rehabilitation services through donations to Family Stores.
  • Over 203,000 underprivileged children attended day care and summer day camps.
  • The Army provided nearly 10 million nights of shelter.
  • 324,000 people received help during times of disaster.
  • More than 4 million families and children were served during the holidays.
  • More than 1.8 million people received help through senior, medical and institutional services.

So what is the #RedKettleReason hashtag? The Salvation Army‘s 124th National Red Kettle campaign is encouraging Americans to share their reasons for giving using #RedKettleReason.
• Donors who post using #RedKettleReason can view their posts and others on RedKettleReason.org
and learn why the rest of America is giving.
• The site also features an interactive mosaic and a map of the conversations happening on Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram and YouTube along with an easy way to donate directly to the Army.

Don’t worry, it’s not to late to donate!  One-third of online donations occur during the last two days of the year. Donors can benefit when it comes to their taxes if they donate to a charity and receive the proper documentation before January 1.

What is going to be your #RedKettlereason for serving others.  My reason for serving others this season is because we have been there in our own lives when my little family needed help, and someone reached out to us in our time of need and helped us.  It is our way to give back! 

This year our family has tried really hard to serve others. We don’t have tons of money, but we have a little extra that we are able to do some small things with to help others.  I think that showing your children the spirit of giving and how wonderful it can make them feel when they know they are helping someone in need is one of the most important lessons we can teach our children, and it is very easy to do around the holiday season! 

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