My husband and I
have always valued giving back to help others, but the Christmas after
our little girl was born, we started bell ringing for the Salvation Army as a
family. I also ring bells with a friend each year and we have a blast together. At 8 months old, she was the youngest bell ringer and it was the start
of a tradition that we plan to continue for many years. Now rather than being
bundled into a stocking like that first year, our little girl dances and
helps put money in to the bucket. We worked on teaching her to say “Thank You”
for those who donate and “Happy Holidays” to those who do not, although she
sometimes got the two mixed up and said “Thank you” to everyone. My hope is that
teaching her young will instill in her the desire to give back for years to
come.
Bell ringing for 2 hours raises $100 on average, which can serve 50-80 people a nutritious meal according to the Salvation Army.
Bell ringing for 2 hours raises $100 on average, which can serve 50-80 people a nutritious meal according to the Salvation Army.
It is interesting in
the times that we’ve rang bells the interactions with people we’ve come
across:
-People who look for
the bucket and already have their money out well in advance
-People who are
quick to wish us a “Happy Holidays” or “Merry Christmas” and thank us for being
there
-People who avoid
eye contact at all costs even when you have greeted them
-People who are
looking very intently at their receipt (this seems to be the majority of
people)
-People who are
friendly but walk as far away from us as possible as if we are going to
pickpocket them for money (we are not)
I wish I had a sign
that said “We are enjoying our time as a family by ringing bells. We have no way
of knowing who receives assistance from the Salvation Army or who just gave all
the money they had at the last store they were at. It does not matter to us
either way. It does not matter to us if you donate or not; we will still wish
you a “Merry Christmas” and we will still ring our bells. Have a nice
day.”
Ah, but there will
be no sign, just bell ringers at stores throughout the country, continuing this
Christmas tradition…so, if you come across the, please at least acknowledge
them. A smile is a free gift.
14 comments:
Great post! I usually make it a point to have cash on me if I'm running to Target or Dillon's during the holiday season so I can donate. What a wonderful family tradition--you're teaching your daughter a wonderful lesson at an early age! Thanks for sharing.
I'm glad you posted this. I don't usually carry cash on me, especially during the holiday season (my mom has me paranoid about getting robbed). So I feel bad that I don't have cash on me to donate, and I'm one of the people who avoid eye contact. But if the bell ringer greets me, I say Happy Holidays back. But some of the greeters here don't say anything to you if you don't donate. I'll try to make sure I have cash on me next time I go to Wal-Mart of Kmart. :-)
I always try to donate when I can.
Newest follower from Thumping Thursdays.
xo sandra
http://larasvintage.blogspot.com/
How Awesome! If you get a chance see my post on the Salvation Army Red Kettle donation challenge.
Every time my 3 year old finds coins he puts it in his pocket and tells me he is saving it for the bell ringer.
From Thumping Thursday,
Stephanie
Here is the link to my post on our last day of the challenge.
http://www.yearroundgiving.blogspot.com/2012/12/salvation-army-red-kettle-donation.html
new follower from the hop. Always happy to find a new, great mommy blog! Hope you will come over and follow back!
Julie @ Hey Mommy, Chocolate Milk
www.heymommychocolatemilk.blogspot.com
Following you back Julie:)
Hi Angela,
I love this story. It's funny that you post this because my husband wanted to begin to instill in our oldest daughter the joy of giving back. Her first lesson came when he gave her some money and explained what the Salvation Army does and the bell ringer (as much as a 3 yo can understand anyways). I took her over so she could put the money in the bucket. She said "Merry Christmas," to the bell ringer, feeling very happy to help someone. Then she turned around to my husband and screamed, "Daddy, I gave back" and ran and gave him a big hug. There were so many shoppers in between us and my husband. It seemed to make a lot of people laugh and seemed to touch them as well. Great tradition!
Thank you for joining the Thumping Thursdays blog hop.
Karina
www.momintheusa.blogspot.com
Karina, that is too sweet!! Thank you for sharing:)
Loved your post...great idea!
Who knew it actually raised that much! What a good cause and that's awesome that you do this every year. :)
I love those winter hats. I wish we had winter here. :)
I'm a new follower from Thumping Thursday bloghop.
Have a good weekend!
xo,
Gwen
http://junior-executive.blogspot.com
Hi Angela, I’m Anne from Life on the Funny Farm (http://annesfunnyfarm.blogspot.com), and I’m visiting from Thumping Thursday.
This is great! I took my kids bell-ringing a few times a couple years ago. They were teens and twqeens at the time, and really seemed to enjoy it. You're right, you do get some weird looks! And the "avoiders".
Anyway, thanks for posting this. If you’ve never visited yet, I hope you can pop by my blog sometime to say hi…
Great post. Very informative and touching.
Also thanks for linking up to Thumping Thursdays Blog Hop. We hope to see you again this week. :)
http://mrsdchastain.blogspot.com
Great post, it's a fabulous reminder that even just a smile costs you nothing. :-)
I just wanted to let you know I featured this today on my blog! You can check it out and grab a Featured button here: The Fun In Functional link party
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