by Jorge Pérez
The Salvation Army: a Non Profit Charity Worth Giving to
Last year during Christmas season I started to enter a store that I had shopped at regularly for years. I stopped at the store entrance because I felt that something was wrong. Then I realized that there was no bell ringing and no Salvation Army volunteer with his or her red kettle. I went into the store and asked the manager if he knew why the Salvation Army volunteer was not outside. He stated that the company had gotten complaints from people who were unhappy that a religious organization was soliciting donations in front of the company’s stores. He stated that the company had decided that they would no longer allow the Salvation Army to have a space outside the stores. This way the company would not offend people. I told the manager that they had just offended me. I walked out and have never again shopped at that store or at any of that company’s other stores.
Every year I know it’s the Christmas season when I see the Salvation Army volunteers ringing their bells and standing next to their red donation kettles or buckets. Every time I see one of those red buckets I put , or in the bucket and thank the volunteer for being there and allowing me to make the donation. I thank them because I believe that they are doing me a favor by allowing me to help people through the Salvation Army. They are the ones that have to stand for hours ringing their bell while all I have to do is put money in the bucket. They don’t get paid for doing this they just do it out of love for their fellow humans. I not only donate at Christmas time, I also send in anonymous donations (For my own ideological reasons most of my donations to most entities are made anonymously.) at other times of the year and when there are various