🎄 Join Us for the Red Kettle Drive – November 28, 2025! 🎄

The Hampton Rotary Club is proud to support the Salvation Army’s Red Kettle campaign this holiday season! On Friday, November 28, we’ll be ringing bells and spreading cheer to help raise funds for families in need right here in our community.

We’re looking for volunteers to join us for a fun and meaningful day. Whether you can give an hour or a few, your time makes a big impact!

✅ What to Expect:

• A festive atmosphere
• Smiles, jingles, and warm hearts
• A chance to give back and connect with others

📍 Location: Hampton Walmart 1900 Cunningham Dr, Hampton, VA 23666
🕒 Time Slots Available between 10 am & 6pm

👉 Sign up today to be part of something special: email Kevin Steele drsteelescmg@gmail.com

Let’s make this season brighter—one ring at a time! 🔔❤️

History of the Red Kettle

In 1891, Salvation Army Captain Joseph McFee was distraught because so many poor individuals in San Francisco were going hungry. During the holiday season, he resolved to provide a free Christmas dinner for the destitute and poverty-stricken. He only had one major hurdle to overcome — funding the project.

Where would the money come from, he wondered. He lay awake nights, worrying, thinking, praying about how he could find the funds to fulfill his commitment of feeding 1,000 of the city’s poorest individuals on Christmas Day. As he pondered the issue, his thoughts drifted back to his sailor days in Liverpool, England. He remembered how at Stage Landing, where the boats came in, there was a large, iron kettle called “Simpson’s Pot” into which passers-by tossed a coin or two to help the poor.

The next day Captain McFee placed a similar pot at the Oakland Ferry Landing at the foot of Market Street. Beside the pot, he placed a sign that read, “Keep the Pot Boiling.” He soon had the money to see that the needy people were properly fed at Christmas.