The Salvation Army bell is the sound of the season.
The sound that says help others.
Jalene Armstrong says is happy that she had some cash to spare.
'I had those few dollars and a few dollars goes a long way in conjunction if everyone did that it would give a lot to people who are in need.' Armstrong says.
But it's a sound that few are listening too right now.
It's been a bit of a slow morning...but Mary rings her bell and greets everyone.
It could be the economy....or some other reason....but donations are down across the board.
Things are so slow...that the Baltimore area Salvation Army is worried that it might not hit it's goals.
'The kettle drive this year is budgeted at about 600 thousand dollars we're about 36 thousand behind where we need to be at this point.' Baltimore Area Commander Major Roger Coulson says.
By this time of the year the Salvation Army kind of knows where it should be with donations of toys, clothes and other items for needy families.
And they're far short.
They need good angels.....bad.
'This year we have almost 1000 forgotten angels that haven't been adopted by the regular angels and as you look around the family boxes are in place a lot of them are still empty and we're getting down to the crunch time.' Major Coulson says.
Most of the Salvation Army's operating funds each year comes from the Kettle Drive.
About 85 percent of all donations actually go to help other people.
Coulson says they have fabulous community partners but they need more.
And not just for Christmas but after the holidays...because when the bell stops....the community's needs don't.
If you would like to help the salvation army with it's angel tree drive you can call Major Coulson at 443-677-6458 or you can go to their webste at
www.tsabaltimore.org to find out how you can help.
