Footballing legend Tony Dungy has been spotted outside a Publix store collecting money for the Salvation Army.
Dungy and his family were participating in the bell-ringing collection outside a store in Lutz, Florida, this week, according to WFLA. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers Ring of Honor member and former Bucs head coach also featured in a social media update from the Salvation Army Tampa Bay a couple weeks back.
“Thank you so much to Tony Dungy and his family for volunteering as bell ringers for an afternoon,” the charity posted. “We feel so blessed to have your continued support!”
Thank you so much to Tony Dungy and his family for volunteering as bell ringers for an afternoon. We feel so blessed to…
Posted by The Salvation Army, Tampa Bay on Friday, December 7, 2018
The volunteer-led “Red Kettle” charitable initiative has been running for almost 130 years and assists those who require a helping hand during the holiday season. “Volunteers are the difference between an empty kettle and one that raises about $30 per hour – enough to provide a family with two bags of groceries or shelter an individual for a night,” The Salvation Army notes on its website.
“Red kettles are a Christmas force.”
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WHAT IS THE HISTORY BEHIND THE RED KETTLES?
There is a very interesting story that underpins the bell-ringing tradition, as Salvation Army North details on its website:
“In December of 1891, Captain Joseph McFee of The Salvation Army in San Francisco, Calif., was stumped. He wanted to provide a Christmas dinner for 1,000 poor people, but had no way to pay for it.
Then, an idea. He thought back to when he was as a sailor in Liverpool, England, where on the docks of the city’s waterfront he remembered seeing a large pot into which charitable donations could be thrown.
The next day, McFee secured permission to place a brass urn at the Oakland ferry landing. Beside the pot, he placed a sign that read, “Keep the Pot Boiling.” Soon, he had all the money he needed to fund the Christmas dinner.
Two years later, McFee’s fundraising idea had expanded to 30 kettle locations on the West Coast. He’d grown the program with help from two young Salvation Army officers named William A. McIntyre and N.J. Lewis.
Soon after Christmas 1895, McIntyre and Lewis were transferred to the East Coast. They took with them the idea of a Christmas kettle.”
You can “register to ring” and become a Salvation Army kettle-shaker by heading here.