Salvation Army Christmas Kettles Now Accepting Plastic
I came across this story yesterday courtesy of Crain’s Detroit Business and I thought I’d share it with our readers. It would seem that the residents of Washtenaw County, Michigan will now have the option to pay with cash or credit when they encounter the familiar Salvation Army Christmas kettles at some select locations.
The Salvation Army will launch its annual holiday collection campaign in Washtenaw County on November 20th. Nothing new about that of course. We’ve all seen the bell ringers stationed next to the familiar red kettles on corners and in front of retail stores around Christmas time. It’s become an American holiday institution of sorts.
But now the Salvation Army is putting a high-tech wrinkle into their charity collection drive. At some select locations the bell ringing volunteers will be equipped with credit card processing machines. There will be three stationed at the Briarwood Mall in Ann Arbor and one stationed in front of Sam’s Club in Ypsilanti.
While this will be new for our friends in Southeast Michigan, other chapters of the Salvation Army have been experimenting with accepting credit cards and reporting some nice success with it too, thank you very much. The use of credit card machines have increased donations by 8% – 10% according to John Williams, the Salvation Army’s coordinator in Washtenaw County.
Williams went on to state that the biggest challenge to using the technology is ensuring donors that their credit card information is safe. Williams went on to say that all information is transferred directly to the credit card companies and their bank and that nothing is stored on the machines themselves.
The goal for this year’s holiday campaign is $300,000, the same as last year. Michigan has been among the states that has been hit the hardest by unemployment so not only do we wish the Salvation Army well in their endeavors, but also the good people of Michigan as well.
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