Bells will be ringing throughout the Fox Valley this holiday season, thanks to the many volunteers ringing bells for the Salvation Army.
This time of year, the greatest impact can be made through volunteering, Salvation Army Capt. Rich Forney of Aurora said.
The money collected by Salvation Army volunteers over the holiday season through the Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign is used to provide ongoing assistance throughout the year when those in need can be forgotten, he added.
The Salvation Army provides either direct assistance with food, utility and rent assistance, or referrals to partnering agencies to those in need, he said.
This is the second year Naperville resident Shelley Morgan and her daughter, Emily, a seventh-grader at Crone Middle School, have volunteered ringing bells for the Salvation Army.
“My husband, Scott, attended a fundraiser for the Salvation Army last year and brought home information about bell ringing,” Morgan said. “I have always seen the bell ringers during Christmas time and thought it would be fun to do, so we signed up online.”
Also volunteering together for Special Olympics and the Western DuPage Special Recreation Association, Morgan said her family volunteers because she said they enjoy giving back to the community.
“I have always enjoyed volunteering and glad I can pass the joy and reward from it down to my daughter,” she said.
Cindy Lawrence, the senior programs and volunteer coordinator for the Salvation Army in Aurora, said more volunteers are needed.
“We unfortunately must hire paid bell ringers to cover shifts at our many locations,” she said.
With kettles placed at 10 different locations in Aurora and eight in Naperville, she said many local organizations like churches work together to take care of a kettle location for the whole month of December.
Volunteers can sign up individually or as groups or families at registertoring.com, she said.
For more than 23 years, Naperville resident Greg Fyksen has been ringing the bell for the Salvation Army with a group of volunteers from AT&T Bell Labs.
For the last four years, he has served as the volunteer coordinator for the 100-person group which takes shifts at the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Main Street in Naperville on Friday evenings and Saturdays from the day after Thanksgiving until Christmas.
“It is very gratifying and heartwarming to see the charity going on,” Fyksen said. “Every year, it is really inspiring to see the generosity of young people. I see junior high and high school age kids in downtown Naperville shopping without their parents who stop and give some money. To see that every year is so gratifying.”
Aurora resident Jim Toynton coordinates a group of bell ringers for St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Aurora.
After retiring as a principal in West Aurora School District 129, Toynton has been ringing bells for the Salvation Army as well as serving as the volunteer coordinator for approximately 80 volunteers at St. Mark’s who donate 50 hours to the cause each holiday season.
The St. Mark’s group rings bells at Woodman’s Market, Prisco’s Fine Foods, and Jewel-Osco in Aurora.
Most importantly, Toynton said, “When people ring bells, people will give. The people who sign up to volunteer to ring bells are the difference makers.”
Toynton shared a memory of a man who gave a large donation at the kettle he was manning. The man told Toynton that when he was a young soldier about to be sent overseas, the Salvation Army gave the soldiers free coffee and doughnuts.
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“I have so many stories like that one,” he said.
Cathy Janek is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News