Salvation Army bell ringing challenge to occur Friday

The Salvation Army’s iconic red kettle campaign is up and running with bell ringers outside of stores all over the country including here in Odessa.

An awareness campaign to challenge people to give will be going on this Friday in an effort to engage donors and supporters to raise much needed funds.

From 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday the Bell Ringing Challenge will be going on all across the country as Salvation Army Commissioner Kenneth Hodder is challenging people to support local communities.

This year, the Salvation Army is expanding the National Commander’s challenge to include local supporters, partners and volunteers as well as Salvation Army Officers, employees and advisory board members.

Salvation Army units are encouraged to put together a team of ringers to take on and beat the amount raised by Hodder.

The goal is to raise $1 million in that four-hour window across the nation.

“What’s going on with the Salvation Army is a challenge from the national commander,” Odessa Salvation Army Major Luis Melendez said. “So all across America, on Friday, December 3, we bell ringers and officers will be at locations and our national officer himself will also bell ring and see if we can beat him.”

Melendez says he will be at the kettle at Hobby Lobby on 4642 E. University Blvd from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday.

“So I have selected Hobby Lobby for that purpose,” Melendez said. “It benefits us locally. We’re hoping that people can come out. The Salvation Army red kettle is iconic. It’s something that people are used to. They hear the bells and they give. It’s a special challenge and a huge effort in a small time frame to reach donors and supporters to raise as much money as we can.”

Melendez said he also picked Hobby Lobby because it is where they did their Red Kettle kickoff.

“It could’ve been anywhere,” Melendez said. “The Red Kettle campaign is a hallmark of Christmas and Hobby Lobby is very Christmassy with a lot of trees and I personally like Hobby Lobby so that’s why I picked that location to ring at.”

Melendez is encouraging everyone to donate and said that all the money that is donated in Ector County stays local.

“I myself as the commanding officer of Odessa challenges everyone in Ector County to swing by and put a little extra in the kettle,” Melendez said. “I’ll be there. I appreciate everyone’s giving to the Red Kettle Campaign to help our programs here in Odessa. The money you donate here, stays here. It doesn’t go anywhere else. It stays here.”

The money that is raised helps pay for all sorts of programs at the Salvation Army during the year.

“Red Kettle in Odessa is money for the Odessa Salvation Army which means money for our programs and shelters,” Melendez said. “It helps those who come through our social service offices. That can mean food or jackets. I know we do different drives and things like that but this is a large part of our budget. People don’t know that.”

There are 17 bell-ringing locations in Odessa.

“That means that 17 local businesses have agreed to offer their front doors and establishments for us to ring at and I’m averaging three bell ringers a day,” Melendez said. “It’s seasonal. That makes me as an officer to go out and do a little bit of a push but we do need help and ask for anyone who is interested to be a seasonal bell ringer or volunteer if they have some time on their hands to come help.”

The goal for this year is to raise $55,000 from the Red Kettle Campaign in Odessa.

Melendez says that so far, they are at $25,000.

“That’s not good because we don’t ring on Sundays and we stop on the 24th,” Melendez said.

This is the first Red Kettle Campaign in Odessa that Luis and his wife Laura Melendez have overseen. The husband and wife duo took over as the new officers at the Salvation Army in Odessa earlier this year, replacing Captains Juan and Clara Gomez who received a new appointment in Texarkana.

“I’m new in town … but I can say right now that for the few of us that are going out every day, we’re doing very well because the people are nice and giving and very gracious,” Luis said.

For those who are interested in being a bell ringer or donating to the Odessa Salvation Army can do so at https://www.salvationarmytexas.org/odessa/.

The Odessa American is also partnering with the Salvation Army for its annual Fill The Empty Stocking Campaign which has been going on every year since 1995.

Funds for that help the Salvation Army provide toys, food boxes and gifts for the elderly during the Christmas Season.

People can donate at https://give.salvationarmytexas.org/give/371871/#!/donation/checkout.