There are less than two weeks left to the Salvation Army’s biggest fundraiser this holiday season, the red kettle campaign. But it has a long way to goal to meet its goal.
The ubiquitous red kettles have been a sign of the season for more than a century, still setting up shop at grocery stores, drug stores and shopping malls across central and northern New York. But times have changed. More people do their shopping from home, and if they’re out, more likely to carry a credit card than cash. Syracuse Salvation Army spokeswoman Gina Lazara says she’s hearing giving is down in the local kettles so far.
"We have our bell ringers out there doing what they can, but foot traffic is down, people carrying change and cash is down, and the goal is to hit $220,000 for our red kettle campaign and we’ll see if they make it there," said Lazara.
They’ve made some changes to try and make it easier for people to give. In 2019, the agency added Apple Pay and Google Pay to the kettle sites, and this year givers can use Venmo and PayPal to make a donation by pointing a smartphone at the QR code on the kettle.
Lazara says so far in central New York the kettles have only brought in about half of the $220,000 goal so far at 32 locations. Donations are accepted through Christmas Eve.
