news as issues

merry christmas and happy holidays.



Aaron Jones has a simple theory. Ring the bell, and the people will give.

The ringing outside Chanhassen’s Cub Foods signals to all within earshot since Nov. 13 that the Salvation Army Red Kettle is near, and Jones has been the man standing behind it most of the time.
“I ring the bell to remind people the red kettle is here,” said Jones, an out-of-work janitor from Brooklyn Park. “They know what the kettle is all about, and most people are pretty happy to give to the Salvation Army. It’s a great organization that has helped a lot of people, including myself.”

Standing behind the kettle wearing the Salvation Army’s red apron, Jonas explained how he has had ups and downs of life. At age 18, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and traveled to Australia, Korea, Hong Kong, and Pakistan, but three years later he found himself back in Chicago. In retrospect, he said returning to Chicago wasn’t a good choice. Things didn’t work out for him financially. In 1994, he came to Minnesota in search of a job and has been here ever since.
Jones said whenever he has fallen on hard times like in June when he lost his full-time janitorial position, support from the Salvation Army has helped him back to his feet. He’s proud to represent the organization that has meant so much to him.

“I don’t know what I’d do if there was no Salvation Army,” he said. “The organization helps a lot of people, including myself,” he said. “They don’t discriminate. Everyone’s welcome.”
He smiles at the people he meets.

“Greet people with kindness, and they will return the kindness,” he said.

“Happy holidays,” Jones said enthusiastically as he greeted a man who was digging in his jeans pocket. The man dropped in a handful of change.

About 3 out of 5 people this year put money in the kettle, Jones guessed. He rang the bell some more but stopped suddenly when a petite woman with her ear pressed close to a cell phone approached.
“I stop ringing when I see people coming at me and talking on their cell phones,” he said. “It’s common courtesy.”

Slow giving

The preoccupied woman passed by without giving. She could be a metaphor for the Twin Cities this year.

According to a Salvation Army spokesperson on Monday morning, Christmas giving — Red Kettles, individual checks, foundation checks, corporate giving, and Internet giving — in the Twin Cities has been slow. Annette Bauer from the Salvation Army Northern Division, which covers the Twin Cities, said the organization was about $900,000 short of its budgeted $3.2 million Twin Cities Red Kettle Campaign budget and about $4 million short of its $8.7 million overall Christmas budget. She’s still hopeful they’ll raise enough money and noted the Christmas campaign lasts through Dec. 31.
“We’re about a quarter of a million behind where we were last year,” she said.

His routine

Every morning, Jones takes the bus from an apartment he shares in Brooklyn Park to Harbor Light Homeless Shelter in downtown Minneapolis for morning devotions and breakfast.

He’s one of 120 paid ringers sent out from Harbor Lights to ring a bell and stand by a red kettle in area cities. Vans bring the ringers, who earn $8 for every hour they work, to a location each morning and then pick them up with the red kettle and bring them back to Harbor Lights in the evening. Jones is usually in Chanhassen from around 10:35 a.m. to around 7:30 p.m. Throughout the metro, about 300 paid bell ringers are out every day with similar hours and similar responsibilities. During the course of the season, approximately 14,000 volunteers also help with the red kettle campaign, according to Bauer.

This is Jones’ third consecutive Christmas season ringing a bell for the Salvation Army but his first in Chanhassen. He said that he likes the people here and the city.

“This is a beautiful city. It is also a very giving city. The kettle is full almost every day. Everybody, from the little kids to the seniors, gives,” Jones said. “An older guy comes through here every night. He has a penny in his hand. He makes sure I see it, and then he puts it in the kettle. I’m not sure if that’s all he can give, or he’s just being funny, but it’s fun to see some regular faces every day.”

When we go shopping,
We say “How much will it cost?”
Then the true meaning of Christmas,
Somehow becomes lost.

Amidst the tinsel, glitter
And ribbons of gold,
We forget about the child,
born on a night so cold.

The children look for Santa
In his big, red sleigh
Never thinking of the child
Whose bed was made of hay.

In reality,
When we look into the night sky,
We don’t see a sleigh
But a star, burning bright and high.

A faithful reminder,
Of that night so long ago,
And of the child we call Jesus,
Whose love, the world would know.

I know many of you may not be Christian but that’s really is not what Christmastime is about – it’s about love and caring for each other. With that said, I, SPIRAL, bid you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays on my part. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Look out for our Winter 2010