Bell ringing funds local emergency-relief programs

During the holidays, most of us have encountered a Salvation Army bell ringer at the entrance to stores. What many may not know is that the funds collected by those drives stay local. In addition to a wide range of services, the Salvation Army offers a voucher program to help community members weather emergency situations. That program is solely funded by donations collected from bell-ringing activities.

"In addition to the bell ring and the thrift stores, the Salvation Army has a fairly large social-services program," said Kelly Nolan, who serves as a representative in the Cascade West Division for the Salvation Army Service Extension Field. "We have a core which are churches and fairly large offices which provide all kinds of services. In some of the smaller areas, we have a service extension center. In even smaller communities, we have what's called service extension units, and that's what we have in Clatskanie and Rainier. A unit is a smaller location run by volunteers. We don't have a building and usually partner with another agency, church, or a police or fire department who agrees to write our vouchers."

Executive Director of Turning Point Kelly Miller wears multiple hats, including working closely with Hope Of Rainier to manage both Rainier and Clatskanie food pantries. Miller met Nolan after joining Turning Point in 2019. Nolan saw an opportunity for the Salvation Army to provide additional funds to help fill the gap alongside other emergency services programs, and she took on the voucher programs for Rainier and Clatskanie. Once vetted and approved, the client takes the voucher to the vendor, where it's pre-arranged to accept the voucher as cash and Miller handles the reimbursement.

"The services we offer depend on the community," said Nolan. "We tailor the programs to what they need. In the case of working with other agencies, like we're doing with Hope of Rainier, we came alongside and found out what services they're providing. Rather than trying to duplicate those, we found areas where they would like to provide a service but maybe don't have enough funds for it or we share or supplement the expenses for other items they maybe don't have enough funding for."

"My internal program at Turning Point is called Neighbors Helping Neighbors," said Miller. "Clients are only able to access funds once every six months, and it is mainly for things that come up where there isn't a resource. Let's say a client comes in and they have a doctor's appointment, their bills are past due, [or] they're threatening to get shut off. Since both fall under the Neighbors Helping Neighbors Program, they have to decide which is more important. In that case, the larger of the two bills would be resourced through Neighbors Helping Neighbors, and the gas voucher I would use Salvation Army funding so they get help for both. It's a struggle and a balancing act with trying to determine which fund am I going to take the money from that's going to best serve that client while still allowing us to remain sustainable."

Ninety percent of funding for the voucher program comes from bell ringing. In 2021, the voucher budget was $600 which, according to Nolan, was not covered by bell-ringing donations, so it was supplemented from other funds. The amount has gone up incrementally, as the budget for 2025 is $1,750.

"My hard and fast rule is, regardless of how big the need, I will never spend more than $200 at a time on one person because that's a huge percentage of my budget and, generally speaking, [the request] is $100 or less," Miller said. "If somebody comes in with a $500 electric bill, I might do $400 through the [PUD] Share the Warmth Program and $100 of Salvation Army funding."

Miller reflected that the biggest voucher request in recent years has gone toward water bills, but voucher considerations also include rent assistance, gas vouchers, and utilities. Still, there is a process to qualify.

"Every case is vetted to the best of my ability, and if I start to notice trends of repeat users, I am then looking at why are they continuing to come in and ask for this funding," said Miller. "I might pull them aside to see where they are struggling. It might be something like 'I don't know how to budget what little money I have,' so I sign them up for a budget workshop. This trains them how to create a budget with what they have. We're doing everything we can to try to give them the tools they need to be successful, so they aren't relying on these very tiny funds that are meant for emergency situations. I want to look at the deeper issue."

More funds raised in Rainier during bell-ringing season means more funds to help 97048 (zip code) residents of which seniors and veterans make up the majority of requests. "Since the budget comes directly from bell ringing, we have really hyped up the importance of getting out there and volunteering to ring the bell," said Nolan. "We're going to try to find new ways to recruit additional bell ringers. We have someone [Debbie Eastland] in town that coordinates that for us, changes out the kettles, and makes the deposits, but we need more volunteers."

In addition to the bell-ringing program, which starts the Monday after Thanksgiving and runs through Dec. 31, the Rainier Chamber of Commerce will partner with The Salvation Army, Turning Point and Hope of Rainier for an additional red-kettle collection campaign called "Change for Change." Businesses will be asked to put out a "counter kettle" starting Nov. 1 for change donations that will be added to bell-ringing donations.

"Where [the community] can help is with either donating when they see a red kettle to contribute, knowing it's going to stay in the community, or if they're looking for a fun project," said Nolan. "Bell ringing really is a lot of fun and 99 percent of the people that volunteer come away with a good feeling, and they say, 'That was really good, I want to do that again.'"

Community members or companies and employees interested in volunteering for a bell-ringing shift can contact Kelly Miller at turning3point@gmail.com. Businesses interested in participating can contact the Rainier Chamber of Commerce at rainierchamberofcommerce@gmail.com.