Salvation Army hopes for strong red kettle campaign after shortfall last year

The Salvation Army’s signature red kettles hit storefronts Friday, erecting bell-ringer poles in the Cape Girardeau and Jackson area to kick off this year’s holiday-kettle fundraiser — one of the organization’s largest of the year.

Last year’s season fell $50,000 short of the organization’s $300,000 goal, which led to cutbacks in its meals program, emergency-assistance funding and staff salaries.

The budgeting burdens from last year’s shortcomings now rest on the shoulders of Lts. Matthew and Virginia DeGonia. The couple, which hailed from Granite City, Illinois, and Owensville, Missouri, respectively, replaced the Salvation Army’s previous directors, Ronnie and Bridgette Amick, on June 28.

“As the fiscal year gets closer to the end — towards August and September — we had to start going, ‘OK, what are we going to have to cut back to pay our bills?’” Matthew DeGonia said.

Looking to the future, Matthew hopes improved fundraising efforts this year could help the Salvation Army bounce back with a strong start to 2018 by improving the campaign’s infrastructure and logistics.

“We have to kind of build a strategy,” he said. “So you look at the busiest days people are there — Thursday, Friday and Saturday — and try to optimize those hours you get.”

With online shopping reducing retail markets, another large obstacle facing the Salvation Army is the modern shopper’s lack of dollar bills and coins.

Bell ringers may be equipped with one of two DipJars, which accept donations through electronic-payment methods, but Matthew noted the new system still is a work in progress.

“They’re pretty sporadic, because we only have two of them,” he said. “It’s kind of hit-and-miss. We’ll probably have one out this week sometime at Schnucks.”

The organization’s full holiday-kettle campaign runs until Dec. 23, consisting of bell-ringers outside of 16 retail locations in Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Perryville.

DeGonia said volunteers always are welcome, and applications may be submitted online at tsacapegirardeau.org, where those interested can choose dates, times and locations to volunteer.

“We’ll meet them at the kettle and have a bell and an apron for them,” DeGonia said. “We were pretty close to our goal last year, but I think with the slight changes we’ve made this year, we’ll be able to meet the goal. So we’re excited — we’re excited for the season.”

bmatthews@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3652