Another holiday season has ended, but it’s never too late to give.

Local donations to the Salvation Army’s Red Kettle campaign fell $15,000 short of its $90,000 goal this season. Extreme cold weather just days before Christmas prevented the kettles from being manned. Those days usually are the biggest ones in the annual campaign that helps people in need.

But we can’t blame it all on the weather. The pace of cash being placed into the kettles did not keep pace with completing that goal during the campaign, which started on Thanksgiving Day.

“It’s probably the economy,” explained Major Darlene Means of the Butler Salvation Army. “With the price of gasoline and utilities and food prices going up, that’s the only thing we can think of.”

Every dollar donated to the Red Kettle Campaign stays in in our community, helping vulnerable or struggling neighbors. These donations help the Salvation Army provide a range of social services, including shelter, food, rent and utility assistance, addiction-recovery programs, after-school programs and summer camps.

Monetary donations to the Salvation Army also help get supplies to people affected by natural disasters, and the Butler chapter's Project Bundle Up program provides winter weather outerwear for people who need it.

In 2021, the local Red Kettle Campaign raised $85,000. In 2020, when many retailers were closed due to the pandemic, the campaign raised $102,000.

The Red Kettle drive, one of the oldest and largest charitable campaigns in the world, dates to 1891 when Salvation Army Captain Joseph McFee wanted to address San Francisco’s poverty and hunger issues during the holidays.

To fund his goal of feeding 1,000 people and inspired by a similar bucket he once saw as a sailor in England, McFee placed a pot at Oakland Ferry Landing with a sign that read, “keep the pot boiling.”

“It was designed as a means where people could give small amounts of money to help feed the hungry, and since then, it's become a way people can quickly demonstrate their concern and their love for others in the community,” said Commissioner Kenneth Hodder, the Salvation Army’s national commander in the U.S.

Throughout the year, the organization assists more than 25 million people in the U.S., and as of 2022, the Salvation Army helped more than 4.5 million people around the holidays, according to the organization.

Butler is a caring community. We can help the campaign reach its goal in a few days if everyone pitches in.

People wishing to contribute can donate online, in person or by mail through Jan. 13.

Donations can be mailed to or dropped off at 313 W. Cunningham St., Butler, PA 16001.

– JGG