Columnist Susan Snyder: Bell tolling for red kettles across valley

Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2004 | 8:19 a.m.

The demise of Salvation Army's little red kettles likely started before they became the target of one national department store chain.

Certainly, it hurt when Target stores banned bell-ringers from their stores this holiday season, following a long-standing corporate prohibition of doorway charity solicitations.

It's nearly un-American to refuse the red kettles and bells. And trying to place the ban in some kind of acceptable perspective is like trying to tell people it's acceptable, under certain circumstances, to drown kittens.

So let's forget kittens and think, instead, of the older person on a fixed income who has exactly $30 to spend in three stores one Saturday. And that person can only get to those stores on one day because that's when he or she has a ride available. A $1 donation at each stop is huge.

Of course, no one says you have to give to the kettle. But no decent person can walk past one without feeling compelled -- even pressured -- to do so. This is not the "fault" of the bell-ringer. It's the fault of human nature.

Most of us are programmed, thankfully, to reach out to the less fortunate. It's why standing in front of stores asking for donations works -- and the reason so many more groups are doing it.

The red kettles' biggest challenge isn't Target at Christmas. It's other charities the rest of the year. The doorways of many stores have become nonprofit toll booths.

Cookies, candy bars, flowers, raffle tickets, magazines -- all useful items. Scouts, youth sports, veterans, senior citizens -- all worthy causes. But those who give at the office and give through the mail grow weary of giving every time they need a gallon of milk or package of underwear.

"We have a lot of 501(c)3 organizations. We have one of the highest per capita rates in the country," Charlie Desiderio, Las Vegas' Salvation Army spokesman, said Monday. "And we are very low on charitable giving. We're ranked 47th (nationally). So you split that donation dollar, and it reduces everybody's share."

In addition to losing spots to place kettles, the charity didn't have enough bell-ringers to cover all the spots they could have used. Only 20 percent of bell-ringers volunteer. The other 80 percent earn minimum wage. But even the paid spots couldn't be filled.

Desiderio said he and his staff once made a game out of clipping from both newspapers' advertisements asking people to donate old cars to charitable groups. On one day there were 15 different groups.

"In the old days, you just donated your car to the Salvation Army," he said.

In growing communities such as Las Vegas, charities scramble just to keep up with demand, let alone develop new fundraising campaigns.

The Salvation Army will give toys to 13,000 children this Christmas, up from 11,500 last year. A year ago the agency provided food for 100 families daily. This year, it's 200.

"It's becoming very difficult," Desiderio said.

Long-term prospects for the red kettles aren't bright, he said, but not just because they were a target. The people who give are outnumbered by the people who need.

We shouldn't need a kettle to see them.