Chicago's Salvation Army Red Kettle campaign kicks off
CHICAGO - Starting this week, you will begin to hear the chime of bells outside your favorite retailer.
The Salvation Army’s Red Kettle campaign is here.
From buying diapers to paying the rent, the Salvation Army literally keeps our community safe and supported all year round.
On Thursday, a line of cars waited outside the food bank at the Salvation Army in Oakbrook Terrace.
"We are seeing people that we have never met before, that we've never seen before, who are working families that are coming to us for food," said Major Caleb Senn.
But hope is here this holiday season.
"I know that every chime of that bell means that somebody else is having their needs met this year," Senn said.
The Salvation Army’s red kettle campaign has begun, funding programs like the mobile soup kitchen.
The Chicagoland Red Kettles will raise $18-million this holiday season, providing 70 percent of what the Salvation Army needs all year round.
"People will come in to have their utilities paid, to have food for their family, we can also help with prescriptions, with eye glasses, we can help people get a special pair of boots they need for work in order to keep their job," Senn said.
FOX 32 spoke to one of the last recipients of today's food boxes.
"My husband's sick. He been having heart troubles. So it's amazing," Bobbie said. "For me, for my family, it's a really, really big thing to having this help."
If you do not have cash when you see a kettle, signs will allow you to pay via Apple Pay, Google Pay, Venmo and PayPal with the tap of a smartphone.