Kate Creasey, Kathy Purcell, Marie Angier
          
This year our club rang bells in front of Safeway one Saturday in December. Marie Angier and I took the first shift. It was a great opportunity to get to know each other better, while getting donations for the Salvation Army. As we rang the bell, we watched people go into and out of the store. One gentleman had flowers in his cart. Marie and I wondered who was to receive the flowers and for what occasion. The man was halfway to his car when Marie ran out and asked him those very questions. The flowers were for his wife for their 56th anniversary. Marie and I both smiled, thinking of the man’s thoughtfulness and the joy it and the flowers would bring his wife. Marie chased down another man who had purchased flowers for his wife of 55 years. We saw several more people take flowers out of the store, however, we did not conduct a complete survey of the reasons for their purchase.

As Marie greeted a woman walking up to the store, the woman stopped and told Marie the woes of her sickly husband. The trip to the store was to help her clear her head. It was interesting that this woman was sharing such personal thoughts and feelings. There was something freeing in her openness. It reminded me of the Spirit of the Season.

I’m sure the other Soroptimist members who rang bells (Ann Salmon, Sally Sue Barry, Dale Simon, Anne Knight and Colleen Blazier had similar experiences. This year, on our watch, $220.61 was collected. We were told this is more than is collected by some of the regular bell ringers. Dave Salmon told Marie tht when "groups" do the "ringing" the group actually brings in more funds than what goes in "the bucket" because groups do a day, and the Salvation Army doesn't have to pay their staff to ring bells.So by this information, we did "bring in" more than the $220.61! Kudos to all those who participated.