Great Barrington — Six days a week, between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, a small but dedicated group of Salvation Army volunteers has been ringing the bell outside of the Great Barrington Price Chopper in a collective demonstration of the organization’s motto, “Sharing is Caring.” The presence of the “Red Kettle” in Berkshire County marks the extension of a Christmas tradition that began in 1891 when a Salvation Army Captain in San Francisco resolved to provide a free Christmas dinner to the area’s poor. By 1895, more than 30 kettles had sprung up on the west coast effectively launching a tradition that has spread throughout the United States in an effort to bring the spirit of Christmas to those who would otherwise be forgotten.
The Great Barrington Service Unit is eager to serve its South County community, and at the helm is Unit Chairman Sally Harris. On Friday night at Price Chopper, just beyond ordered rows of tall, slender evergreens bundled and covered with a thin coating of snow, I stood with Harris as she rang the bell. Dean Martin’s, “Let it Snow!” played over a loudspeaker and amidst the swoosh of the sliding doors to the vestibule where the kettle stood, shoppers hurried in from the cold. Surrounded by stacks of amaryllis bulbs, Christmas chocolates and boxed candy canes, someone stops with a folded bill. “It’s not a lot,” the woman says, and Harris replies, “We’ll take it — we’re grateful.” For Harris, this is her way of finding Christmas. And she is committed to making a difference.
Harris, who has owned a home in Great Barrington since 1974, grew up in Dallas, Texas where her grandfather was a businessman who “came from nothing.” Always careful with his money, he wanted to give to organizations that spent wisely on people who needed it most; he firmly believed his dollar went the furthest with the Salvation Army. This influence likely led to Harris’ affiliation with the organization, at both the local and national levels. In her work with the Manhattan (New York) Advisory Board, first as a member and later chairman, she “suffered every time [she] would talk about the Army and [her] listener would respond ‘I had no idea.’ It made [her] crazy. It still does.”
Her father’s influence is also indirectly evident in another project that Sally and her husband, Fred, are deeply involved in: St. James Place, the renovation of St. James Church on Main Street into a performing arts space as well as a home for nonprofit organizations such as the People’s Pantry.
Moments after Harris and I begin talking about the role of the Salvation Army — the largest charity in America — a young man stops hesitantly to make a donation. “I’m seriously grateful,” he says quietly, as if on cue, all the while making eye contact with Harris. He goes on to recount the story of his own experience with the Salvation Army, a story that began one winter a few years back when he was working at Price Chopper in Pittsfield. His boots were in terrible shape, but he could not afford a new pair and feed his family at the same time. One day he arrived at work to find a package waiting for him at the service desk, signed only “from your Secret Santa.” He later found out the boots had been a gift from two women who had been ringing the bell, day in and day out, who noticed that his boots were in rough shape. “After that year — things changed for me,” he recounts thoughtfully. “A pair of boots may be simple but it really helped me out,” he said, before hugging Harris and thanking her earnestly for her work.
At present, Harris is serving for the third time on the Salvation Army National Advisory Board. When asked what motivates her, she replies, “Hanging around people with the most positive outlooks despite their struggles is a real joy.” Harris is grateful for the opportunity to make a difference. When introducing the extension unit in Great Barrington the goal “was not to disrupt those agencies [already addressing homelessness and hunger] rather to contribute funds through them.” For all intents and purposes, to “plug holes that needed filling.” All funds raised in the Red Kettle outside of Price Chopper this season will stay in Great Barrington and the local community. Salvation Army funds will be distributed through local organizations — from Construct and the People’s Pantry — as well as emergency financial assistance which provides individuals and families help with food, clothing, utility or heating expenses, furniture and transportation.
Contributions to the kettle last season were about $3,000; this season, Harris’ fourth ringing the bell in Great Barrington, marks the thinnest for volunteers but the most meaningful personally. “I want the sound of the bell heard,” explains Harris, noting that service extension units, like the one in Great Barrington, allow for the Salvation Army to be in every zip code in the United States. For Harris, her goals are twofold: she is committed to putting the Salvation Army in front of people at Christmastime; she is also eager to find ways to make a greater impact, perhaps through a sustained project, that might serve not only to rally interest but also to bring the community together for the greater good — a philosophy that drives nearly all of her volunteer work. On a national level, the Salvation Army is tackling big issues, like looking at what it costs to get a family out of poverty as opposed to the cost of leaving them in poverty. On a local level, Harris points to the adult rehab center in Springfield, run by the Salvation Army for free, that is working to address the heroin epidemic in our area. This facility is paid for solely through the goods and services sold at Salvation Army thrift stores; there is no government sponsorship. The Salvation Army has created an effective work therapy rehab center, where the truck drivers are recovering alcoholics and drug addicts, and espouses the simple fact that “need knows no season.”
As I prepare to leave, a mother and her two children stop. The kids instinctively crouch down to pet Harris’ dog, Bobby, who is decked out in a red and white striped hooded parka.
Bobby, a rescue dog who is more Dachshund than anything, is a “real asset,” Harris jokes, noting that many stop simply to pet him. But then the kids stand up, and drop a donation into the red kettle, like so many before them. When considering the struggles of homelessness and hunger, “there is more need in our community than organizations [like Construct and People’s Pantry] can handle” Harris says as she resumes the ringing of her bell. And just like that, another Salvation Army motto comes to fruition: “Expect Change.” For quite literally, when considering the Christmas Kettle, when change goes in, change comes out. A truth from which we can all benefit.
