By Howard Packowitz
BLOOMINGTON – The Salvation Army of McLean County is looking at ways to boost red kettle donations during the Christmas season.
Shoppers dropped almost $218,000 into the red kettles over the holidays, which was about $37,000 below the Salvation Army’s goal.
Salvation Army Corps Officer Major Gary Felton said people don’t carry as much cash.
Felton said the organization is looking at alternatives including setting up kiosks where people can swipe credit or debit cards.
Kiosks were put up at some locations a few years ago, but they weren’t used a lot.
“We’re not quite there yet because of how we can station those kiosks and how they’ll look. At this point and time we don’t know what that looks like yet,” Felton added.
The Salvation Army’s “Make a Difference” campaign exceeded its overall fundraising goal thanks to donations sent by mail and online, particularly in January.
The campaign raised $529,000 or about $14,000 above the fundraising goal.
Howard Packowitz can be reached at howard.packowitz@cumulus.com
