The Naden Band was a tough act to follow — especially since someone walked off with the Salvation Army bells I was supposed to ring.
Despite the driving rain, people had lingered on the sidewalk outside the Bay Centre to hear the band play festive carols and Christmas classics. They’d opened their hearts and their wallets, and the red Salvation Army kettle was filled with $5, $10 and $20 bills.
Now it was my turn.
The musicians packed up their instruments — and, unfortunately, the bells — and I stepped into the role filled by hundreds of Greater Victoria volunteers each Christmas. I was a bell-ringer for the Salvation Army Christmas Kettle Campaign.
Sipili Molia, community relations co-ordinator, handed me a wimpy string of bells he found in the bottom of some bag. They didn’t so much celebrate the season as apologize for it. This was going to be tougher than I thought.
Kettle hosts are supposed to make eye contact and smile. But rain streamed down from the clouds. Buses spewed exhaust. People hid behind umbrellas or tensed against the cold, rushing by with their heads down.
My feet were soaked. My hands ached with cold.
At this point, Molia reminded me that the people I was helping have to live in these conditions.
“It’s a good motivator to suck it up for a couple of hours,” he said.
And then a donation from a 91-year-old woman.
“It gives you a good feeling to give,” she told me before making her way down Douglas Street.
“Thank you,” I said with a smile. “Merry Christmas.”
And I kept smiling.
I found the more I smiled, the more people smiled back. Some even hunted for change in their pockets or pulled bills out of their wallet. And frankly, some, appearing lonely or stressed, just looked like they needed a smile.
Eventually, Molia found me some better bells and moved me inside the mall, out of the rain.
People continued to give and seemed happy to do so. It’s a phenomenon called the giver’s glow.
A small act of kindness ripples throughout the community.
Donations to the kettle campaign bring the spirit of Christmas to those in need in our community.
For more than 100 years, the Salvation Army has helped the most vulnerable, providing food, clothing, Christmas toys and dinners. The agency funds shelter services, food banks and English-as-a-second-language programs. Eighty-eight cents of every dollar raised go directly to those in need.
Barbara Housser knows first-hand that the red kettle has become a symbol of help and hope around the world. Every year, Housser, a member of the Salvation Army advisory board, takes a turn as a bell ringer. She’s been out there in the snow, in windstorms and rainstorms, giving people a chance to give back.
“I love it because people come and tell you their stories and people who you least expect put $5 in. When they tell you how the Salvation Army helped them, it makes you feel really good.”
With all the kettles in other spots around the city, Housser doesn’t expect donations from everyone who passes by.
“A lot of people have already given, but they feel good when you smile at them.”
This year, the Times Colonist is working with the Salvation Army and the Mustard Seed to give as many people as possible a wonderful Christmas. It’s all part of the Christmas Giving Network, an umbrella organization that co-ordinates Christmas efforts throughout the region.
How to donate to the Times Colonist Christmas Fund
• Go to timescolonist.com/christmas-fund. That takes you to a site that is open 24 hours a day and provides an immediate tax receipt.
• Or mail a cheque, payable to the Times Colonist Christmas Fund Society, to the Times Colonist Christmas Fund, 2621 Douglas St., Victoria, B.C. V8T 4M2.
• You can use your credit card by phoning 250-995-4438 between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., Monday through Friday. Outside those hours, messages will be accepted.
