Guardian Radio personalities ring the bell for charity

Wed, Dec 23rd 2015, 11:20 PM

Guardian Radio management and on-air talent dole out vital information all year long through the station's all-talk format, and they recently took time out to give back, volunteering for charity.

Led by station General Manager Dwight Strachan, the team members served as bell ringers, collecting donations for the Salvation Army at Kelly's Home Centre to make someone else's Christmas merry. Red Kettle donations mean presents for children who would otherwise receive little or nothing on Christmas morning. The history behind the Red Kettle and bell ringers goes back to 1891.

Salvation Army Captain Joseph McFee was distraught because so many poor individuals in San Francisco were going hungry. During the holiday season he resolved to provide a free Christmas dinner for the destitute and poverty-stricken. He only had one major hurdle to overcome -- funding the project. He wondered where the money would come from to find the funds to fulfill his commitment of feeding 1,000 of the city's poorest individuals on Christmas Day.

As he pondered the issue, his thoughts drifted back to his sailor days in Liverpool, England. He remembered how at Stage Landing, where the boats came in, there was a large, iron kettle called "Simpson's Pot" into which passers-by tossed a coin or two to help the poor.

The next day Captain McFee placed a similar pot at the Oakland Ferry Landing at the foot of Market Street. Beside the pot, he placed a sign that read, "Keep the Pot Boiling". He soon had the money to see that the needy people were properly fed at Christmas time. Captain McFee's kettle idea launched a tradition that has spread not only throughout the United States, but across the world.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian

 Sponsored Ads