For the last 35 years, Marion and Ray Reid have volunteered for the Fort McMurray Salvation Army’s Christmas Kettle Campaign, some weeks putting in so many hours ringing bells, it was essentially a full-time job.
The couple, married for 59 years, moved to Fort McMurray in 1981 and Ray remembers their first shift that year.
“We were standing downtown at the liquor store outside and it’s 40 below,” the 82-year-old retiree said. “That was a really cold night.”
Some years the couple would volunteer between 30 and 40 hours a week, but these days health issues keep Ray to two or three hours and prevent Marion, 78, from bell-ringing altogether.
“I miss it,” Marion said. “It’s helping people that are less fortunate than we are, people, especially children, that can’t have what our children or grandchildren have.”
“I think it’s important,” Ray said. “We help a lot of people in the community.”
Marion recalls some of her favourite moments from over the years.
One year, a man came into the mall looking for a gift for his wife, but he couldn’t find anything.
“[He] decided to put the money in the kettles to help somebody else,” said Marion. “He put in $200 in $20 bills.”
Later the man’s wife came to do the same thing, she said.
She also recalls a six-year-old girl taking $20 from her own pocket and putting it in the kettle.
“She was very happy about it, and I gave her a candy cane,” Marion said, adding the moment stuck with her because it was the child who made the choice.
The Reids are among about 15 people who have been volunteering for the Fort McMurray branch for more than 20 years, said the Salvation Army’s Stephen Hibbs.
He refers to the volunteers as the “army behind the Army.”
“We wouldn’t be able to do this without the volunteers,” Hibbs said.
The campaign’s goal this year is $200,000 and three weeks in they’re halfway there.
The money is used for family services, food vouchers and helping people facing financial difficulties, he said.
“Most of the money that comes in goes directly back into our community.”
For the last 20 years, anyone walking through the doors at Fort McMurray’s Walmart at Christmas has likely run into bell-ringer Neil Cooper.
The 84-year-old has been volunteering with the Salvation Army for 27 years and the Walmart is his favourite posting.
“I’ve been with the Salvation Army all my life,” Cooper said.
He volunteers for about six hours a day, packing himself a sandwich and tea for the shift.
“He’s got that smile that seems to be stuck on his face all the time,” Hibbs said.
“It makes me extremely proud,” said his daughter Tina Hawkins. “He’s well known for being on the kettle here every year.”