Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette James Wilks tended a kettle at Pat’s Foods in Hancock Friday morning, but the Salvation Army is suffering a severe shortage of bell ringers again this year.

HANCOCK — The Salvation Army is short of bell ringers for its Red Kettle Campaign again this year, according to Loenita Schweigert, corps administrator. The Kettle Campaign began earlier this year than in past seasons, to “hopefully make up for the shortage in donations that all organizations are experiencing,” Schweigert said.

The Hancock Salvation Army sent out 800 letters to businesses and organizations before the campaign started, inviting them to participate in the kettle campaign.

“We’ve sent letters. There are multiple options for organizations and companies,” Schweigert said, “But we got no response. Eight hundred letters. Nobody wanted to do a challenge. All they had to do is give us a name and we would set it all up. And not one person responded.”

One of the options contained in the letter is the Company Challenge Program, in which a company or an organization can challenge a rival company or organization to ring bells on the same day, but at separate locations, creating a contest determining who raises the most money.

The second option is the Red Kettle Company Match, in which a company can select a date and location to match the total donations collected for one of the kettles, Schweigert said, while the third option is for companies to place a red kettle stand in front of the business, or place a counter top kettle inside the business.

“We’re looking for groups, we’re looking for companies, we’re trying to get ahold of the the mascots at Michigan Tech and Finlandia to maybe do some kind of challenge. We’ve been trying to contact (local) celebrities to have like a celebrity day.”

Individuals are welcome to volunteer, too, Scweigert said. Each volunteer shift is two hours long, and only at one location must ringers stand outside.

Anyone interested in any of the options can call the Salvation Army at (906) 482-3420.

The Red Kettle Campaign is the major fundraiser for the Salvation Army, and bell ringers are very important.

“As everybody knows,”Schweigert said, “nobody donates when nobody is standing there.”