This year, donate to Salvation Army's Red Kettle campaign via text message

The Salvation Army’s red kettle campaign is underway.

“The red kettle in a sense is really a piece of Americana.” Major Robert Thompson is the divisional commander for Wisconsin and Northern Michigan. Bell ringers have been braving the frigid temperatures in front of stores for nearly a century. But over the past few years a problem has been emerging. “The red kettles are certainly low-tech and as society changes, fewer and fewer people are using cash,” Thompson said, “They don’t have that dollar or change in their pocket.”

Last year, the Christian charitable organization unveiled some kettles that take credit cards. This year, people can donate by sending a text from their cell phones. “We certainly want to make it as easy for people to give as possible,” Thompson said, “Younger people you know tend to be more electronic than they are cash or check so you know we’ve set up this texting opportunity just to reach certainly a younger population.”

Donors can text the word “angel” to give $5 or “shine” to give $10 to the number 85944.