The Red Kettle Bellringer
WORDS FROM W.W. December 22, 2016
The ringing could be heard all over the parking lot of the grocery store. The seventy year old man waving the bell back and forth smiled at everyone who passed by regardless of whether they put something in his kettle or not. Most didn’t, but he engaged them with a greeting anyway.
A young woman with her four year old daughter approached on his right hoping to sneak by unnoticed. The bellringer turned as she was right beside him and shouted a greeting. “Merry Christmas to you and yours!” The greeting made her step back startled for a moment. “Would your little girl like a candy cane?”
The four year old looked up with delight and a smile from ear to ear. “I’m sure she would,” replied the mom. “I’m sorry, but I don’t have anything to put into the donation bucket.”
“That’s quite all right, ma’am! Perhaps you’ll be able to pass on the glad tidings to someone in another way…a kind word to a neighbor, a visit to someone in the hospital, or even saying a prayer for someone else in need. There always seems to be something that we can do to help this world be a bit more decent to be a part of.”
“Thank you! I’ll keep those things in mind.”
“Mr. Bellringer,“ came the soft voice of the young child. “Do you get to keep the money that you collect?”
“Lord, no, darling!” he chuckled. “This money goes to help some folk who don’t have food to eat or a bed to lay their head in. I’m just the man who has the privilege to ring the bell and hand out candy canes.” He turned to the left to wish another customer entering the store a merry Christmas. Another woman exiting walked by the red kettle and tucked a folded five dollar bill into the slit on top of the kettle. “Thank you, ma’am!”
“So, Mr. Bellringer-“
“Call me Mr. Sam, darling!”
“Mr. Sam, what do you get for standing here and ringing the bell?”
“Well, my dear, I get…to do it!”
“Get to do it?”
“Yes, I get to do it. I get to see the looks of generosity that come upon the faces of people who make decisions to give up something of their own to help someone they will probably never see.”
The mom spoke up. “But don’t you get a bit miffed at all the folk who pretend not to see you as they pass by?”
“No, ma’am! That’s their choice, and you know something?”
“What?”
“I used to be just like that. Kind of a hardened man who didn’t really care about anyone or anything else. I can’t really say how I got to that point but it happened.”
“So…something must have changed.”
“Yes, ma’am! It did, and it was about this time of the year…ten years ago, in fact!” He paused for a moment to greet a young boy and his parents and hand the child one of his candy canes. “My wife, Ellie, came down sick…and I mean really sick! So sick that I carried her out to the car and started to drive her to the hospital. She was in severe pain, moaning and groaning, and all of a sudden as we drove she just passed out.”
“Oh my!”
“As you can tell, I was scared to death and I pulled over to the side of the road, put my flashers on, and tried to revive her. I was frantic! Thank the Good Lord that no more than thirty seconds later a pick-up truck pulled up behind me on the side of the road and a man and his wife got out to see what was going on. I jumped out of the car and screamed about my wife being unresponsive. The woman was a nurse who worked in the ER of the very hospital I was heading to, and she performed CPR on Ellie right there, got her breathing again, and jumped in the car with me as we drove to the hospital. She called ahead and they were waiting for us when we arrived five minutes later.”
The little girl looked up at Mr. Sam and with great concern asked, “Was she okay?”
“Darling, there was something wrong with her heart, but they were able to fix it and she ended up being okay. But you know something, if that couple hadn’t stopped to help it would have been a different story. That day changed me! I guess you could say that the Good Lord got my attention about how selfish I had been. If that had been someone else pulled off the side of the road and I was passing by I wouldn’t have thought twice about them, but just kept on going. But Ellie probably wouldn’t still be alive today if those two people hadn’t helped. Like I said, that day changed me!”
“And that’s why you ring the bell?” asked the mom. “That’s why you greet people with a merry Christmas and hand out candy canes.”
“It’s a simply way that doesn’t take any advanced education, if you know what I mean. The only requirements are being able to ring a bell and be friendly with people. And you know something, ma’am? I enjoy it!”
At that moment a woman was leaving the store and she came by the red kettle. “Here you go, Sam! Tell Ellie I said hello!” She dropped some money into the collection.
“You betcha’, Helen! You working today?”
“Heading there now! Will you stop by and say hello?”
“Absolutely! Maybe I’ll bring you a candy cane!”
“Save those for the kids, Sam!” She walked on across the parking lot.
“Is that one of your neighbors?”
“In a way!”
The little girl spoke up again. “Mr. Sam, are you going home after you get done ringing your bell?”
“No, I’m heading to the hospital.”
“Is your wife there?”
“No, I go by the pediatric ward…that’s where the sick children stay…and I pass out candy canes and tell them stories to make their day a little brighter.”
“That’s really nice, Mr. Sam,” said the mom. “Is Helen one of the nurses there?”
“Yes, she’s a nurse in the pediatric ward now.”
“How did you meet? Did you meet her when you started volunteering there?”
“No, I knew her before that. She used to be a nurse in the ER.”
The young mom paused and then began, “Is that…is she…?”
“Yes! She’s the one who saved Ellie’s life.” And he gave a wink to the mom and her daughter. “I hope you have a very merry Christmas!” The little girl took two steps to Mr. Sam and hugged him with all her might.
“Merry Christmas, Mr. Sam!”
Explore posts in the same categories: children, Christianity, Christmas, Community, Jesus, love, Parenting, Pastor, Story, The Church, UncategorizedTags: bellringer, charity, children helping others, generosity, generous giving, giving, helping each other, Merry Christmas, needy people, red kettle, ringing the bell, Salvation Army, those in need
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