First of all, THANK YOU to all who dropped off donations in the red kettle last nite in front of the Fred Meyer store in the valley!!!

SEcond of all, if you haven't had a chance to donate yet, well I will be there again next Monday afternoon ringing the bell again. ( I actually came up with the idea last year....and we did it once, this year 4 times...)

But, last nite as I rang the bell, thanked people for dropping in coins and dollars I noticed something.  Something huge.

Now, first of all I had both of the girls with me.  My parents had just gotten home from a week long vacation and needed a day to get groceries, do laundry and get settled again....so I didn't even ask them to watch the girls. Plus I also really want to try to teach the girls to learn that they need to take care of what they have, be thankful for what you do have....and to realize that there are others that don't have what you do.  And to give to charity. 

 So instead I bundled up the kids warmly....and told them if they got too cold to go into the store and warm up.  But they were out there with me, in the red aprons and bells and the official red kettle too.  And THAT is what I noticed.

People smiled a LOT....and gave a LOT.  And altho I do believe its a great cause and people would be giving anyways....having a cute bundled up 5 year old ringing the bell and wishing you a MErry Christmas...well, I think it helped...A LOT.

One lady even walked by smiling and said out loud that she was the best looking bell ringer she had ever seen!!

I know that the Salvation Army uses the bell ringing to help people build job skills....its a great opportunity for people to help themselves while helping others.  And the monies they gather support the SA's programs thru out the whole year. But if they really really want to meet their budget goals....they need to start recruiting more kids....preferably cute little 5 year olds.