Just over a week into its annual Red Kettle campaign, the Salvation Army of Coastal Alabama has already collected roughly $30,000, according to Maj. Mark Brown, who oversees the chapter’s fundraising efforts across the region.
Brown said the organization is aiming to raise more than $200,000 during the 2014 holiday season, which would mark an increase of about $30,000 over what the chapter collected the previous year. He emphasized that money raised through kettles stays local, meaning donations collected in Mobile County remain earmarked for use within Mobile County rather than being redistributed elsewhere.
The campaign has also drawn support from an unexpected source this year: a pair of musician sisters from Tulsa, Oklahoma, who wrote and recorded an original song promoting the Red Kettle campaign and released an accompanying video on Thanksgiving Eve. Brown said the sisters did not coordinate with the Salvation Army before creating the song, but he welcomed the enthusiasm, saying it’s the kind of creative energy he hopes to see mirrored by artists and musicians in the coastal Alabama community.
“I think it helps, because if people see that and catch some of that passion and enthusiasm and commitment… then that same passion can happen here on a local level,” Brown said.
Brown described the range of services the Red Kettle donations help fund locally, noting that the Salvation Army serves as many different things to many different people. For women and children experiencing homelessness, the organization operates a center designed to feel like a safe, warm apartment complex rather than an institutional shelter. For adults struggling with alcohol or drug addiction, it offers residential programs lasting up to 18 months to address the root causes of addiction. For children in the community, it runs youth programs designed to keep them engaged and supported.
Brown said he sees particular opportunity for local creatives, including musicians, photographers and videographers, to lend their talents to the cause the way the Tulsa sisters did, noting there is no shortage of ways for artistic community members to help raise visibility for the campaign.
Donors who can’t find a kettle in person can also give through the national Salvation Army’s virtual Red Kettle, with donations automatically earmarked for the donor’s home area based on their billing zip code, ensuring even online gifts stay connected to local Salvation Army chapters like the one serving coastal Alabama.