The local Salvation Army major hopes to reach the Red Kettle Campaign goal this year, as two new stores have been added to the list.

Maj. Valerie Hazeldine of the Salvation Army in Butler said the goal of $89,000 in the kettle campaign was affected by closures last year.

“We did not make our goal by about $20,000 because Kmart and Friedman's closed,” Hazeldine said. “That was a big blow to us.”

She hopes to make the 2018 goal of $90,000 because Ace Hardware in the Greater Butler Mart and Rural King at the Clearview Mall have been added to the list of nine sites where kettles have been set up.

Hazeldine has 12 ringers signed up, but they can only work the big red kettles at certain times and days. The number of available ringers determines how many kettles can be set up each day, she said.

“On any given day, we can have between five and 12 ringers,” she said.

Businesses, organizations, school teachers and the Butler AM Rotary serve as volunteer ringers on the weekends each year. Each group must have enough ringers to cover an entire day, Hazeldine said.

“They are so wonderful,” she said of the volunteers who use a part of their weekend time off to ring the bells at the kettles. “We are just so blessed and grateful for them.”

She said the amount raised in the Red Kettle Campaign represents the annual funding for the myriad programs the Salvation Army offers to the less fortunate, like the daily soup kitchen, food pantry, senior citizen food program and Christmas toy program.

“Everything we do is funded by this,” Hazeldine said. “And all the money stays right here in Butler.”

She said no unusual and valuable items have been dropped in the kettles as seen in some communities.

“Sometimes we get the occasional bowling token or missing earring, but we haven't had anything astounding,” Hazeldine said.

She said the kettles will be out from Monday through Saturday until Christmas Eve, and she asks everyone who walks past them to do the right thing and donate if they can.

“We appreciate it, and we wish everyone the best of Christmas and the New Year,” she said.

The kettles take a rest on Sunday, when the Salvation Army holds church services at 10:30 a.m. at their offices on West Cunningham Street.