Salvation Army sets Red Kettle goal for 2025-26 season
The Salvation Army’s iconic Red Kettle Campaign is set to launch, but it could be a challenging year for meeting its goals in Butler County.
Charles DeJesus, an envoy for the Butler County Corps, said rules about solicitation and recent store closures will make reaching this year’s goal in the county of raising $90,000 challenging, citing a decrease in the number of stores at which they are able to set up kettles.
“Rite Aids have gone away. Big Lots have gone away,” DeJesus said. “It makes it all the more difficult to have opportunities for raising funds through Red Kettle because there are fewer stores.”
He added other locations have policies against soliciting and are not willing to make exceptions, even for the Salvation Army.
“In the litigious society we're in now, there's just a lot of corporate decisions that say ‘no soliciting of any kind,’” DeJesus said. “Unfortunately, it affects a 133-year-old tradition of having red kettles in front of stores.”
Major chains still working with the Salvation Army are Walmart and Sam’s Club, which make up a large number of the Red Kettle locations in Butler County.
Although the Red Kettle campaign doesn’t officially start until Thanksgiving, some Red Kettles are already out on the street accepting donations and have been since Saturday, Nov. 15. Two kettles have already been placed in front of the Walmart on New Castle Road in Butler, the Sam’s Club at Moraine Pointe Plaza and at the Walmart in Cranberry Township.
Other Red Kettles will be placed at the Clearview Mall’s Boscov’s location in Center Township and the Bealls store at Moraine Pointe Plaza.
Those living far from the nearest Red Kettle have an option to donate even without driving out of their way. The “Virtual Red Kettle” allows anyone to donate to the Butler County Corps’ campaign online by visiting salarmy.us/ButlerKettle.
“It's essentially the same thing as dropping money inside the Red Kettle, but this makes up for where we can't set up,” DeJesus said. “There is a QR code at every kettle stand where people can give digitally because so many people say, ‘I don't carry cash anymore.’”
The Butler County Corps’ goal of $90,000 is a small chunk of the $2.3 million goal its parent, the Western Pennsylvania Division, has set. The Salvation Army’s annual Red Kettle Campaign is the largest fundraising campaign for the organization.
“Those Red Kettle donations help us with our feeding programs, food pantries, food distributions, meal boxes,” said Nicole Harrell, marketing and public relations director for the Salvation Army’s Western Pennsylvania Division. “Another thing we see a lot of is emergency rental and utility assistance. In the cold winter months, it's keeping the heat on, making sure everyone stays warm and making sure that families can stay in their homes and have shelter.”
Last year, for the 2024-25 holiday season, the Red Kettle campaign in the Western Pennsylvania region fell just short of its goal of raising $2.34 million. By the time, it wrapped up, the division was able to raise $2.2 million, reaching 95% of the goal, a slight decline from the $2.4 million that was raised the year before.
In addition to donations, the Salvation Army is looking for volunteers to ring the bell in front of its kettles. Interested volunteers can sign up through RegisterToRing.com.
