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Holiday bell ringers help year-round

Connie Steiert
Special to the DailyEagle Valley High School student Randy Mallow is helping out the Salvation Army in its holiday fundraising campaign.
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EAGLE COUNTY – The cheery bell ringers at the supermarket or corner store bring in roughly a fourth of the Vail Valley Salvation Army’s annual budget for helping the needy. The donations help buy food, toys and clothing and pay rent, during the holidays and for months to come. The local chapter of the Salvation Army is seeking volunteer bell ringers at all locations.

“There’s a huge need,” says Tsu Wolin-Brown of the Vail Valley Salvation Army. “Bell ringing helps us help people year round.”Wolin-Brown estimates the local Salvation Army will have helped some 500 families with food, rent and emergency services by the end of the year. Bell ringers are needed at the Eagle City Market, the Columbine Market in Gypsum and the Wal-Mart in Avon. Bell ringers need only volunteer two hours of their time and schedules are flexible.

Bell ringing can bring in as much as $60 an hour per bucket. Combined, those buckets contributed nearly $30,000 last year.”When we have more help we can help people more,” says Wolin-Brown.The local Salvation Army spent approximately $120,000 this year on meals, gas and automobile repairs for people who are down on their luck, Christmas and Thanksgiving baskets and temporary lodging.



The Salvation Army also needs volunteers for its Holiday Cabin and its Christmas food basket project. To volunteer, or check out schedules and locations for bell ringers, call 926-3704.Vail, Colorado


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