As the holidays came to a close the donations placed in Red Kettles at area businesses were tallied up.

Volunteers donate their time in November and December to ring bells at the doors of areas businesses while patrons deposit money donations into the red kettles. The Salvation Army bell ringing committee states this year $18,406 was collected. That is an increase of $2,568 from last year’s total. Deb McCreedy, who helps organize the campaign, tells KCII News that 70% of the funds are used in Washington to help residents in a variety of ways from utility costs to medical bills.