The Salvation Army got a few glimmers of hope this past weekend as it faces unprecedented need and dwindling donations.

A gold coin and a gold bar were anonymously donated at separate red kettles Saturday, according to Salvation Army spokeswoman Katie Heinz Pfingsten. A $50 American Gold Eagle coin was donated at a Jewel in Bartlett and the gold bar was dropped in a kettle outside a Jewel in Mundelein. Each is valued at $1,800 to $1,900.

Lt. Scott Smith, with the Salvation Army's Tri-City Corps, said the gifts offer some reassurance that things may not be as dire this year as first thought.

"It 100% gives me hope. Every year, every Salvation Army corps is going, 'I hope we can make our goal this year,' " he said. "But the reality this year is, I hope we can make our goal and then some, and that God will continue to provide what we need in order to help the people that we're helping."

His corps will get the proceeds from the coin since donations serve the communities where they're made. "The gold coin is huge," he said. "That's more money than would come in on multiple kettles on a regular day."

Nearly three-quarters of the Salvation Army's annual budget typically is made up of donations from the winter Red Kettle drive. So far, the money collected in the kettles is down 50% for the year in the Metropolitan Division, which runs from Rockford to Lake County, Indiana, according to Heinz Pfingsten.

To read the complete article, see:
Glimmers of hope: Gold coin, gold bar dropped in Salvation Army kettles in season of rising need and dwindling donations(https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-salvation-army-gold-coin-donation-20201201-7v2rmftn5zeeza7pypeqwx2qrm-story.html)

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