The Waukesha Salvation Army has set its 2011 bell-ringing goal at $400,000 as the organization attempts to raise $640,000 during this Christmas season, a 2.5 percent increase from what was raised last year, according to a news release from the organization.

Ideally, The Salvation Army would like to staff all bell ringing sites with volunteers. When volunteers are not available to staff a bell ringing site, it forces The Salvation Army to hire individuals. Hundreds of spots are still open and need to be filled, please consider signing up today at www.waukeshasalvationarmy.org   

Money raised during the Christmas Fundraising of 2010 provided the following:

• 12,931 nights of shelter to homeless men  
• 312 orders for prescriptions or clothing  
• 4,904 bags of groceries to families in need 
• 5,172 hygiene and personal care items   
• 67 families were given utility assistance  
• 15,784 free hot meals 
• 6,830 sack lunches to Feed the Kids during summer months 
• 1,756 backpacks of weekend food in the Snack Pack Program
• 4,660  toys to children in need at Christmas
• 253 food baskets to low in come seniors and individuals with disabilities
• 1,600 backpacks with the Waukesha County Back Pack Coalition
• 67 campers to The Salvation Army camp in East Troy
• 44 youth attended the summer Day Camp
• 45 youth participated in after school programs

It takes nearly 16,000 volunteer bell ringers to fill all the time slots and locations available throughout Waukesha County, including Waukesha, Oconomowoc, Sussex, Muskego, Mukwonago, and New Berlin from Nov. 4 through Dec. 24. Locations include Piggly Wiggly, Pick’N Save, Wal-Mart, Kmart, Waukesha State Bank, Sentry, Shopko, Sendik’s Fine Foods, Walgreen’s, Sam’s Club, Gander Mountain, JC Penny’s, and Sears.

As in the past several years there will be a special competition for service clubs, youth groups, businesses and other organizations. Include your organization’s name when signing up to ring bells, if you would like to be included in the competition! For more information about The Salvation Army, you can visit our website at www.waukeshasalvationarmy.org, or Marcy Stutzman, Salvation Army Volunteer Coordinator at 262-547-7367.

Monetary donations can be made to The Salvation Army, 445 Madison St., Waukesha, WI  53188 or by going to the website www.waukeshasalvationarmy.org or by calling 262-547-7367.

The Salvation Army provided this information to Patch via a news release.