It's Not The Holidays Without Bell Ringers!!

On December 10th, the morning after over a 10" snowfall in Minneapolis, and also the coldest day of the winter thus far, I volunteered to be a bell ringer for The Salvation Army... you know the ones outside of every Target and grocery store that you try to avoid eye contact with so you don't have to donate because you would be poor if you donated to every one that you passed in December?

I too have been guilty of this on a number of occasions, but I have a whole new prospective now.  I knew when I signed up last week that it was going to be cold today, so I thought I was being smart by picking a location in a parking garage connected to Lunds (grocery store).  I didn't realize that the parking garage was not sealed, and actually was open to the sky near the entrance that I was standing, and I also didn't realize that what I imagined as cold... 20-30 degrees was in reality 8 (!!!!) degrees.  I haven't felt 8 degrees in at least two years, if not four.

My trip to Lunds started off with me wildly underestimating how much it had snowed and how difficult it was going to be to get 10+ inches of snow off my newer to me SUV (I'm not that tall) which was also surrounded by about a 2 ft perimeter of 10+ inches of snow on the ground... goodbye dry shoes and socks.  Why did I think tennis shoes were a good choice??  After some cursing and questioning of why did I move to Minnesota I was on my way, but only after dominating the pile of snow that the plow left behind my car- yay for having a car that's high off the ground and AWD!!!

I arrive a few minutes late to Lunds, but really, who is surprised by this?  I put on my Salvation Army apron and get right to work ringing the bell.  It was a while before my first donation.  I quickly realized that they're are a few different reactions you get as a bell ringer:

Cold Shoulder- Really, they act cold and squish all their limbs to their body and tuck their head down b-lining it to the door, sure not to make any eye contact.

Sympathy- They look at you with sympathy that you're freezing your arse off.

Friendly Folk- Look you in the eye, say hi, and sometimes even add to the conversation.

Prepared- They've heard the bell from their car and have their money in hand ready to donate.

I tried to make eye contact, say hello and how are you to everyone that passed.  These are couple of my favorite responses to "How are you?"

"Never had it better!" -no donation

"I'm cold." -no donation (Seriously??  I'm standing outside ringing a bell, are you're cold?!?!)

The friendly folk were great!  One guy told me that he "finally made it downtown, or at least close enough."  I have no idea what he meant, maybe because of the roads/traffic from the snow?  Another lady came back and forth a couple times commenting that she forgot butter!  When she came back out she said she would bring me back cookies.  I left 40 minutes later, so I don't know if she was good for her promise, but I like to think she did, and some other bell ringer was there to enjoy them!

The Salvation Army has you sign up for 2 hour blocks.  This was great because I think I would have had frost bite on my toes if it had been any longer.  It's hard to shake a bell and stand in one place for two hours... especially when it's below freezing!  There is a science in how you shake the bell without your hand getting tired or frozen.  You have to keep the ringing at least rhythmic if the workers inside are going to have to listen to it all day.  After a little bit of trial and error I went with the hitting it against your thigh method, alternating hands every 5-10 minutes.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to wake up with bruises on my legs tomorrow from the bell!

You are allowed to go in the store for a short break to warm up, but I tried to push through.  I kept trying to think of all the homeless people out there that don't have the option to go inside to warm up.  I was doing it for them.  I lasted 90 minutes before I truly concerned that my feet were going to have some problems.  I walked inside for a minute and realized a "short break" was not going to help them feel any better, so back out I went and thankfully the last half hour went fast.

What I took away from this experience was that I will never be a "cold shoulder" passerby again.  I will say hello and if I don't have cash... EVEN CHANGE is much appreciated, I will at least thank them for standing out in the cold.  I really enjoyed volunteering and will do it again, but will perhaps pay better attention to the forecast next time.  :)