BELL RINGERS ENJOY KETTLE COLLECTION JOB; SALVATION ARMY CAMPAIGN GOAL SET AT $200,000 MARK

Frances Patterson, 69, has 21 years of experience as a bell ringer for the Salvation Army, which makes her one of the most experienced in Cape Girardeau.

She and other volunteers and paid workers staff the kettles during the holiday shopping season, to help raise money for the Salvation Army.

On Friday, Patterson greeted shoppers at the Cape Girardeau Wal-Mart store. She smiled and greeted a man who dropped a dollar bill in her kettle.

"Thank you, sir," she said. "You have a nice evening."

The man smiled back and put another dollar in the kettle.

Patterson likes ringing the bell and meeting people, "I enjoy doing it -- watching children grow up," she said.

In her 21 years of bell ringing, Patterson has encountered trouble only once. A man using a nearby telephone cursed at her because she was ringing the bell too loudly which made it difficult for him to hear the conversation.

Despite having to stand outside for hours at a time, Patterson doesn't mind it much when the weather grows cold. The only thing that seems to bother her is standing on the hard pavement, but she has solved that dilemma by using a rug to cushion her feet.

Judy Coburn has been a bell ringer for the Salvation Army for three years.

"I love people and I love being a bell ringer," she said.

Sometimes she meets people, especially children, who want to ring the bell. Coburn lets them.

One woman let her children ring the bell for a few moments before stopping them, Coburn said.

"She said, 'Okay, it's my turn,' and took the bell from them and started ringing," Coburn said. "She always wanted to be a bell ringer. It really made her day."

Both Patterson and Coburn, who work seven hours a day, six days a week, are paid by the Salvation Army to ring bells at kettle sites in the city.

In recent years, finding enough bell ringers to staff kettle sites across the city has grown increasingly difficult.

Maj. Robert Gauthier of the Salvation Army said the organization doesn't have any trouble finding people to help when it comes to serving the annual Thanksgiving meal. More than 150 people volunteered to help Thursday.

But that's not the case when it comes to bell ringing. "It used to be, 20 years ago, that service clubs and churches would volunteer," Gauthier said. "They would take a day or two and be responsible for having people to man the kettles."

But the Army has seen a decline in the number of volunteers over the years as people have become increasingly busy.

Although some groups continue to volunteer time as bell ringers, there are not enough to run the program on a pure volunteer basis. This year eight service clubs have signed up to supply volunteers.

"We don't need more sites, but more volunteers would be welcome," Gauthier said.

The Salvation Army has eight regular kettle sites throughout the area. When they have enough people, they sometimes run up to 12 kettles at a time.

The money raised from the kettles goes to the Army's Tree of Lights campaign. This year's goal for the campaign is $200,000. Of that amount, the Salvation Army hopes to raise $80,000 through the kettles.

Last year the kettles brought in about $75,000, and Gauthier thinks $80,000 could be collected this year.

While the Salvation Army would like more volunteers for the kettle sites, Gauthier said he doesn't mind paying the bell ringers, many of whom are otherwise unemployed during the winter months. "It benefits both us and the community," Gauthier said.

Patterson uses the money she earns as a bell ringer to buy Christmas presents for her six children, 22 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. It is her only work during the winter.

How to help:

Donations to the Salvation Army Tree of Lights campaign can be mailed to P.O. 802, Cape Girardeau, Mo. 63701 or by calling 335-7000.