Bell ringing

So, what is Christmas really about? Many others have answered this, so I will not repeat, but I will say what has been important for me this year. Obviously, Abby. Beyond my darling stinky, we all volunteered to ring the bell for the Salvation Army. The Salvation Army has helped Shawen, Abby, and I immensely, in many different ways. To give back, we rang the bell once a week for several weeks and raised about $250. That's a lot of dimes, quarters, and dollars.

It was great to see how responsive most Kodiakians are to the bell ringing. I was often surprised to see who would drop in some spare change. Teenagers, fishermen, all walks of life. The money that we helped raise goes towards operating not just the church, but transitional housing, food bank, the thrift store, the facility itself which is used for Al-Anon, AA, and other meetings, etc. The Salvation Army is called an army because they work to help people, not just preach! It is not about just attending service once a week, but reaching out to the community to make a tangible (and I guess intangible) difference.