For the 5th year in a row, the Minnesota School of Business-Rochester students, staff, faculty and friends covered two busy Salvation Army red kettle locations for an entire day of bell ringing.
MSB students Sara Benton and Angela Bridger
Collectively the MSB crew raised $450.31 at Sam’s Club and $557.02 at Walmart North for a total of $1,007.33!
A few more numbers to share from the day…
- 2 red kettles
- 4 bells
- Over 40 volunteers (MSB students, staff, faculty, family and friends)
- 11 hours (9 a.m. to 8 p.m.)
- Roughly 44 volunteer hours throughout the day
- 3 Elf hats
- 1 Santa
- 1 stuffed Grinch, but no one who helped had a “Grinchy” experience!
Chris Cook, Financial Aid Manager, has organized the event for the past three years for the MSB-Rochester campus. Chris shared a story from this year, “A woman stopped by to thank me for ringing bell and told me how great it is that there are people in the world who are willing to stand out in the cold to earn money for someone else. That’s what this is all about. Sure, it gets cold, and it can sometimes seem awkward at first, but when you can step back and see the bigger picture of why we do what we do, it’s a great feeling.”
Sara Benton, a mental health technician student, shared a story as well, “I participated because it goes for a good cause. Everyone deserves a good Christmas. This was my second year of doing this and I did it with a classmate. We had fun telling people Merry Christmas and giving candy canes to the children. I even had a little helper. A little boy had come out of the door with his dad and he didn’t want a candy cane he wanted to ring the bell, so I let him and he got so excited and his dad let me take a pic of him to show off my little helper!”
Stuffed Grinch, Santa (Chris Cook) and Laura Thomas spread holiday cheer!
- Feed 50 to 80 people a nutritious meal
- Assist two clients in need of emergency dental work
- Provide a family two nights of lodging
- Maintain small increases in food and social services programs
- Continue the Caring Partners Adult Day Program
- Literally keep the lights on
Chris continued, “I love making people smile. My favorite part of bell ringing is greeting people and interacting with others on a personal level. And to me, it is just as important to be kind and warm to those who don’t donate to the red kettle as those who do. It feels good to give back and know that simply standing there ringing a bell can help raise so much money in a relatively short period of time.”
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