Kettle Stories-

Salvation Army Seasonal Fundraising Tradition Started in Bay Area

The Salvation Army has set up Red Kettles at a number of area businesses, including this one at the Raley’s store in Merced. Photo: Steve Newvine

This time of year, several Merced County retailers open their places of business to the red kettle.

Salvation Army has a core of paid workers, augmented by scores of volunteers, ringing the bell, and raising money for the organization.

It’s interesting to note the tradition of the red kettle and the bell ringing started in the Bay Area some one-hundred, thirty years ago.

The local Salvation Army Captain was saddened to see so many poor families having a hard time during the holiday season. This Captain wanted to give every struggling family a Christmas dinner.

His problem: finding money to pay for everything. After many sleepless nights, this Captain remembered the so-called Simpson’s Pot near a naval docking site. The Pot was for the collection of loose coins anyone passing by might have for the poor.

The Captain copied that idea and placed a pot at the Oakland Ferry Landing on Market Street in San Francisco.

The rest is history.

This year, the Merced County Red Kettle Campaign will provide toys to over six hundred children, and a hearty Christmas dinner for two-hundred, fifty families.

Major Turnie Wright of the Merced chapter of the Salvation Army says the campaign is a highly visible focal point for the organization.

The Major is hoping for a good campaign because 2021 was challenged by the end of COVID restrictions.

“We have seen last year as a hiccup as the pandemic was winding down. But there was and still is today a need to help those in need.” That need is apparent in the local chapter's planning for Red Kettle monies this year.

The Major says two-hundred, fifty families will benefit from the campaign. Over six hundred children will receive toys for Christmas thanks to the generosity of people who drop spare change and bills into the bucket.

In addition, Salvation Army has Angel Trees in a handful of businesses where a shopper can pick an angel from a Christmas tree, and then shop for a particular toy written on that angel.

But the benefits from the annual campaign go well beyond the recipients of the holiday food and toys. There are some touching stories heard by the people who ring the bell at kettle locations throughout Merced County.

One woman with a British accent called the organization the “Sally Army” explaining that the moniker was used back in Great Britain where she lived as a child. “They (Salvation Army) had a great band that I remember hearing every Christmas. It was a wonderful tradition.”

A man shared the story about how he was helped by the Salvation Army many years ago when he had fallen on hard times. “I promised myself then that once I got back on my feet, I would never forget what they did for me.”

My connection with Salvation Army goes way back to the late 1990s when the Avon Rotary Club in upstate New York would ring the bell at an area store. Photo: Newvine Personal Collection

Major Wright has some of his own stories about people touched by the Red Kettle Campaign.

He worked the location at the Atwater Save Mart where he would sing instead of ring a bell. A woman walked by and told him she’d be right back.

She came back later with a small stocking that she had knitted in her car.

“She enjoyed the singing instead of the bell and wanted to give, but at that stage, she did not have any other cash on her. So she knitted the small stocking.”

The Major related a story about meeting a young child who had a Mcdonald's Happy Meal. The child took the toy out of her Happy Meal box and asked that it be given to a young child that did not have anything.

Stories of generosity among givers have touched Major Wright and his team over the years.

“These small gifts stand out the most in my mind as it was the attitude of the giver giving the gift that just made my day.”

The Red Kettle started in California well over a century ago, and the need still exists for the many families struggling this year.

They each have their own story, and even the folks who help out the Salvation can tell their own stories about how a smile and the cling of a tiny bell have made an impact on their lives.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

Two of his California books are now available for purchase at the Merced Courthouse Museum gift shop. All his titles are available at Lulu.com.

Quiz Kings-

Seeing the Games and Meeting the Hosts of a Generation

Tom Kennedy was among several retired game show hosts who met with fans at the Game Show Congress in 2007 and 2009. Photo: Newvine Personal Collection.

Unless you grew up in Hollywood or New York City, you may have thought about one day meeting a movie or television star.

I certainly did, and while it took a few decades to realize that aspiration, I look back on that time with a smile.

As a preschool aged kid, I would play with building blocks. I did not make buildings with these wooden blocks; I made game show sets.

Some of the home versions of TV game shows

Throughout elementary school, I would occasionally walk home for lunch. That was allowed back in those days when many moms stayed home.

Mom would have a lunch ready for me, and I was permitted to watch whatever game show happened to be on our family black and white set.

Concentration was my favorite, but occasionally, I might see something new debut during my late morning lunch break.

The very first Jeopardy! with host Art Fleming debuted on March 30, 1964, and I saw it right there in my family living room.

Fast forward some forty-plus years where my wife and I are in the audience of Jeopardy! with host Alex Trebek. For a kid who built game show sets with his toy blocks, this was real progress.

Keeping connected to the genre over the decades was made easy with a collection of home versions of popular game shows.

I have about thirty of these games. I have not played with them in years, but they have been with me throughout my adult life.

The late Florence Henderson, who played the Mrs. Brady on the Brady Bunch, was one of several celebrities who met fans at the Game Show Congress. Photo: Newvine Personal Collection

In 2007, I attended a conference for game show fans in Hollywood. As I wrote in 9 From 99, Experiences in California’s Central Valley, the Game Show Congress was honoring host icon Wink Martindale and the man who created many of the favorite game shows from the fifties through the eighties: Bob Stewart.

The ceremonies were sprinkled with a wide array of television stars that appeared as celebrity players on many of Bob Stewart’s shows.

Among the stars we met that day were Betty White, Florence Henderson (The Brady Bunch), Teresa Ganzel (Tea Time Lady on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show), and Barbara Feldon (Get Smart!).

The stars loved the attention by attendees to the luncheon honoring Bob Stewart and Wink Martindale.

They posed with anyone asking for a photo, were generous with their insight into their careers, and provided all of us with positive experiences as fans of game shows.

Teresa Ganzel may be best known as playing the last Tea Time Movie Lady in the recurring sketch on the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. She also appeared as a celebrity player on a number of game shows in the 80s and 90s. Photo: Newvine Personal Collection

As great as meeting these celebrities was, it was exceeded by the opportunity to talk and take pictures of some of the game show hosts and announcers from the past several decades.

I have photos with me standing next to current Jeopardy announcer Johnny Gilbert, the late Saturday Night Live announcer Don Pardo, the late host Tom Kennedy from You Don’t Say!, and the former Price is Right announcer Rich Fields.

The afternoon remains a highlight of my life as a game show fan. It was repeated two years later in what would become the final Game Show Congress.

That year, the host of Jackpot! Geoff Edwards and the late Allen Ludden were honored.

Moving to California in the early 2000s gave me the opportunity to see and do things I could only dream about growing up in upstate New York.

Meeting the stars of the daytime game shows that entertained me as a child has been a highlight of living here in California.

Seeing that these stars were decent people who appreciated their fans was the icing on the cake.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

His book Dreaming Big is available at Lulu.com.

Two of his books Can Do Californians and California Back Roads, are available for purchase from the Merced Courthouse Museum Gift Shop.

.