December 16, 2025 • 17 mins
Karla Johnson shares how bell ringing, tap-to-pay kettles, and local partnerships fund year-round aid for families, students, and veterans in Riley, Geary, and Pottawatomie counties. We explore clear ways to volunteer, where the money goes, and why simple systems unlock big impact.
• Online auctions expanding into services
• Texas Roadhouse appetizer cards are driving donations
• Tap to pay kettles solving no-cash barrier
• Volunteer sign-up via registertoring.com with two-hour slots
• Eight local kettle sites plus new towns added
• Practical bell ringing tips and music etiquette
• Emergency aid for students with rent and utilities
• Help with car tags and taxes to keep jobs
• Prescription support through local pharmacy
• Veterans benefits navigation and claims support
• Clothing closet open, thrift store closed
• Angel Tree gifts due by the 18th or 21st
Please make sure you get those gifts to the store
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Philanthropy Today is brought to you by the Greater
Manhattan Community Foundation.
In this episode, we feature arecently broadcast segment of
the GMTF Community Hour, asheard on News Radio KMAN.
We are back with the GMCFCommunity Hour here on News
Radio KMAN.
Carla Johnson is here.
Carla is with Salvation Army asan outreach coordinator, and
(00:24):
you'll see her a lot here duringthe holidays.
Various storefronts, and I don'tknow too many people that bling
out like you do.
SPEAKER_00 (00:32):
Well, good morning, Manhattan.
Thank you.
I I love my my bling.
SPEAKER_01 (00:36):
You're right.
She's got a Holly Jolly sweaterwith uh sequins spelling out,
oh, it's Jolly Holly.
SPEAKER_00 (00:44):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (00:44):
Jolly Holly.
And she's got a Santa hat thatis reversible.
And we have the green and silveron this side that we're looking
at now because she's in front ofthe green microphone here in the
studio, and it just seemed tomake sense.
With a power cat button on it.
SPEAKER_00 (01:01):
Yep, gotta have my power cat.
SPEAKER_01 (01:04):
Yeah.
Is this your favorite time ofyear?
SPEAKER_00 (01:07):
This in Halloween.
My birthday is in October.
So I really love Halloween too.
SPEAKER_01 (01:13):
My brother's birthday is on Halloween.
SPEAKER_00 (01:15):
Oh, cool.
SPEAKER_01 (01:15):
Yeah, he's a spook baby.
Have you ever heard that term?
SPEAKER_00 (01:18):
Yes, I have.
SPEAKER_01 (01:21):
Oh, when uh when um my late wife was pregnant, we
were, you know, daughter was dueNovember 6th, and she says, Boy,
I hope she doesn't come early.
I don't want no spook baby.
But uh anyway, hey, we're hereto talk about uh Salvation Army.
And there's been a lot of changewith Salvation Army here locally
(01:43):
in the last few years.
You're an outreach coordinator,and you know, you're involved
right now with the bell ringing,and we'll talk about that today.
But let's talk about some of thethe stuff that Salvation Army is
doing and some of the changesthat uh you've uh undertaken in
the last couple of years.
SPEAKER_00 (02:01):
Well, as an outreach coordinator, I am a paid
contractor.
I'm not an actual Salvation Armyemployee.
I do fundraising and PR, such asthis interview.
Uh, we had an online auction andit ended the day of our kettle
(02:22):
kickoff, November 13th.
Our goal was to raise$800 forthe gift cards that we were
donated.
And we ended up uh raising$545.
So that was still pretty goodfor our first ever online
auction.
We will be having a secondonline auction that'll start in
(02:44):
November, uh not November,sorry, February.
And the um the theme for thatone will be Love Beyond.
And it will be not justrestaurants.
We're gonna have some differentum, hopefully like uh car
washes, oil changes.
(03:05):
I've been pledged a car detailship, car detailing from John
Murdoch Auto, which is where myson works, and you know, just
different things like that uhfrom around the community.
And like I said, that'll startin February.
We also have a new uh fundraisergoing on with in conjunction
(03:29):
with Texas Roadhouse right now.
We have um business cards thatsays present this card for a
free appetizer with purchase ofan entree and choose from the
cactus blossom, fried pickles,tater skins, rattlesnake bites,
or cheese fries.
Then when you get your freeentree, you make any type of
(03:53):
free appetizer.
Free, yeah, free appetizer withthe entree.
You make any type of donation,whether it's a dollar on up,
that donation amount comes backto Salvation Army.
Wow.
And that is good, I believe,just here in Manhattan at the
Texas and it's good through uhSeptember.
SPEAKER_01 (04:13):
Correct.
So I'm I looked at that.
Yeah, because I want to makesure ahead of time frame.
Where do you get these, Lou?
SPEAKER_00 (04:19):
Um, right now I have a box and we have a box down at
Salvation Army.
Um, so you can get a hold ofyour bell ringers have them?
Um, no, we don't.
I probably should give them toour full-time bell ringers.
SPEAKER_01 (04:34):
I'm bell ringing here this week.
SPEAKER_00 (04:35):
Yes, I could give you a few if you wanted to pass
them out if anybody wants those.
SPEAKER_01 (04:42):
Okay, all right.
And in addition, do you do youstill give like the candy canes
and if anybody comes in with adonation?
You used to do that years ago,so yeah, it's better.
SPEAKER_00 (04:51):
I haven't done that.
SPEAKER_01 (04:52):
Yeah, okay.
Well, we've got um, you know,you have goals, you know, fifty
thousand dollars is a goal forfundraising too.
SPEAKER_00 (05:00):
It was keyboard.
We were we were doing reallygood before the couple of cold
snaps hit.
We were getting about a thousanddollars a day, and that's that's
really fell off with the thecold weather, and a lot of our
full-time or our paid bellringers have been sick.
Uh, this this past Saturday, wedid really well with the
(05:21):
volunteers.
All of the kettles had almostfull of money, which was just a
joy to to pick those up.
Um, there's two kettlecoordinators, of which I am one
of the other uh kettlecoordinators.
She puts the kettles out in themorning as well as the battery
packs for the four tap and paystations we have.
(05:44):
And then she puts out any apronsand bells for volunteers that
might be there that day.
And then I pick them up in theevening and take the battery
packs out and you know, gatherthe aprons and bells and take
them down to the office and lockthem up.
Um, new last year was the firstyear that we had tap to pay
(06:08):
because so many people is like,oh, I don't have any cash.
I'll try to get cash in thestore.
And then they forget and youknow, they don't donate.
Goes.
So last year was the first yearthat we had tap to pay.
It's has a battery pack in it,and the amounts of five, 10, and
25 are predetermined.
(06:31):
And you can just tap your creditcard, or if you have um Apple
Pay or Google Pay on your phone,you can just tap your phone on
one of those amounts.
SPEAKER_01 (06:41):
One of these days I'll learn how to do that.
SPEAKER_00 (06:44):
And um, it just beeps and it takes it out of,
you know, your credit card, yourdebit card, your Apple Pay,
whichever.
And that's really easy, but ithas a huge battery pack on it.
And I guess last year some ofthe battery packs did get
stolen.
So we're we're really vigilantabout that this year, not not
(07:06):
having that happen and hasn'thasn't been a problem so far.
SPEAKER_01 (07:10):
Okay.
I'm gonna be a bell ringer.
There's other slots for peopleto sign up.
SPEAKER_00 (07:16):
Correct.
SPEAKER_01 (07:16):
How do they do that?
SPEAKER_00 (07:18):
You go to register to ringto ring.com, and the
slots are two-hour slots.
You can choose from Dylan's Eastand Dylan's West.
There's two uh two doors at twokettles at Dylan's West.
Walmart has two kettles, Hivehas two kettles, and Hobby Lobby
(07:42):
has one.
So there's eight differentkettles here in town.
SPEAKER_01 (07:45):
Go at each entrance of those of those doors.
SPEAKER_00 (07:48):
And then there's also kettles in Junction City,
Wamigo, and then new this year,we have kettles in Onega and
Westmoreland.
Really?
And the money raised in eachcommunity stays in that county.
So the money raised in Onega, uhWestmoreland and Wamigo stays in
(08:10):
Pot County.
Everything raised in Manhattanstays in Riley County,
everything in Junction Citystays in Geary County.
SPEAKER_01 (08:17):
Good to know.
Is that new this year?
SPEAKER_00 (08:19):
Uh no, no, it's always been that way.
SPEAKER_01 (08:22):
Okay.
All right.
I learned something new with youtoday.
Thanks, Carlett.
SPEAKER_00 (08:26):
Yeah, I think it's really, really neat that we have
the the two new towns that we'reexpanding to.
SPEAKER_01 (08:32):
Okay.
Say someone's listening andsays, Hey, I want to ring bells
for Salvation Army.
What tips do you have for them?
SPEAKER_00 (08:40):
Have fun with it.
Dress warm, of course.
Yeah.
Make sure your feet are warm.
Wear gloves.
Oh yeah.
Um I mean, I I dress up.
I you don't have to wear asparkly Santa hat, but I'd say
wear it.
SPEAKER_01 (08:54):
I have a purple one.
Is that all right?
SPEAKER_00 (08:56):
Oh, yeah, definitely.
In this town, I'd say not redand blue.
SPEAKER_01 (08:59):
Okay.
Okay.
Red, green.
SPEAKER_00 (09:01):
Red, red and green is perfect.
SPEAKER_01 (09:03):
Um, you know, we nobody wears blue Santa hats.
SPEAKER_00 (09:06):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (09:06):
Not in Riley County.
SPEAKER_00 (09:07):
Yeah.
Um, we will provide an apron.
You know, this is uh volunteer.
We provide a bell.
I mean, I I'm usually inside, soI have this little wrist bell
because when I'm at Hobby Lobby,if I write bring a blue loud
one.
SPEAKER_01 (09:20):
Where can I get one of those?
SPEAKER_00 (09:22):
Um I think this one at Hobby Lobby, but I think they
have some at uh Dollar Tree.
Okay.
But we provide them.
Oh, okay.
We provide them with the theaprons that we have at the
stands for the volunteers.
Most places will let you playmusic if you have a Bluetooth
speaker.
SPEAKER_01 (09:41):
I have a lot of speakers.
SPEAKER_00 (09:42):
I I bet you do, Dave.
SPEAKER_01 (09:44):
You probably have playlists.
SPEAKER_00 (09:45):
You have probably most speakers of anybody in
town.
SPEAKER_01 (09:48):
I'm in the top 10.
SPEAKER_00 (09:50):
I would say so.
But yeah, and I play Christmasmusic.
Uh, you know, I tell everybodygood, you know, good morning,
good afternoon, have a good day.
SPEAKER_01 (09:58):
No thriller.
No, somebody's watching me.
SPEAKER_00 (10:01):
No, no, nothing like that.
Um and I usually used to letkids ring my bells, uh-huh, but
with so much sickness goingaround, I have a second one.
I just sat down on the very andlet them use that one, and then
I have my own so we don'ttransfer germs.
SPEAKER_01 (10:21):
Yeah.
So how many times are you gonnabe doing bell ringing?
You're out there every day,aren't you?
SPEAKER_00 (10:28):
Most, almost every day, yes.
We we ring um every day butSunday up until Christmas Eve.
SPEAKER_01 (10:38):
Okay.
All right.
SPEAKER_00 (10:39):
And I I go kind of sort of wherever they need me.
SPEAKER_01 (10:42):
How many different outfits do you have?
SPEAKER_00 (10:44):
Many outfits?
SPEAKER_01 (10:45):
Uh-huh.
I mean Do you duplicate any?
SPEAKER_00 (10:48):
Oh, yes.
Yeah, I have about six differentSanta hats.
You know, and this one, thisone, you know, has the two
different mermaid sequins and isthat what they're called?
Yes, that's what they're called.
SPEAKER_01 (11:00):
I was thinking of candy stripes.
SPEAKER_00 (11:02):
But it's mermaid sequins because it's one side,
one color, and then you flip itand it's got a different color
the other side.
I have about ten I have aboutten different Christmas
sweaters.
SPEAKER_01 (11:12):
Uh-huh.
Okay.
Are they uh ugly?
Are they gorgeous?
SPEAKER_00 (11:17):
I have a couple ugly sweaters, what they call.
SPEAKER_01 (11:19):
Yeah.
Does the uh apron cover up theugly sweaters enough?
SPEAKER_00 (11:24):
I don't wear an apron.
I just wear my name tag.
SPEAKER_01 (11:27):
Oh.
But the volunteers don't have aname tag.
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (11:30):
I mean, you could probably just wrap it around
your waist and show off whatyou're wearing.
SPEAKER_01 (11:36):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (11:36):
I know there's one one family a couple years ago.
Um, the mother dressed up asMrs.
Claus, the dad was a Christmastree, and their little daughter
was an elf.
I mean, if you have a Grinchoutfit, that would be perfect.
SPEAKER_01 (11:51):
I don't have a Grinch outfit.
I have a cat in the hat, or atleast I used to.
SPEAKER_00 (11:55):
That would be cool.
SPEAKER_01 (11:55):
I do have Santa.
I do have Elvis.
I don't have a Christmas Elvis.
That would be fun.
I could do that sometime.
SPEAKER_00 (12:02):
You could do Elvis with the purple Santa hat.
SPEAKER_01 (12:05):
Hmm.
Yeah, I don't have purple on myElvis.
It's it's white with red andsuch, but the red Santa hat,
that might work.
SPEAKER_00 (12:13):
That would work, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (12:14):
I'll have to think about that.
I don't know if it's warmenough.
Put put long johns on it.
Well, I'm pretty good aboutkeeping those in stock.
I've been going through a lot ofthose lately.
Well, let's talk about uh someother things here.
Um, you know, and specificallyabout Salvation Army and some of
(12:35):
the assistance that you provide.
Things have changed withSalvation Army.
You don't have the storedowntown like you used to, but
you have a facility that that isthere to assist people in
various needs.
And of course, you know, youhelp people out with, you know,
whenever there's a fire anddifferent things like that.
(12:56):
So let's talk a bit about someof the some of the needs that
you help fulfill in thecommunity.
SPEAKER_00 (13:01):
One thing that we do differently than any of the
other um agencies that provideemergency assistance is we help
college students.
Um most college students, youknow, aren't considered
residents of Riley County.
So we can help them, whereas alot of the other agencies don't
(13:24):
with their um, you know, rent orutility, something like that.
And another thing we uh canassist with is um helping
somebody get their tags andtaxes on their vehicle because
if you can't drive your vehicle,you can't get to work.
And that's just gonna create uh,you know, a worse cycle of you
(13:48):
know, not having the money, notpaying the bills, etc.
We also, you know, help um ifsomebody needs a prescription,
we have a partnership withburied drugs downtown that we
can help out that way also.
SPEAKER_01 (14:05):
It's nice when you got local people helping local
people.
SPEAKER_00 (14:08):
Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_01 (14:09):
Now you're you're past military.
Are you retired?
SPEAKER_00 (14:13):
Uh no, just a disabled veteran.
SPEAKER_01 (14:15):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (14:16):
And so I I do um when anybody comes in that's
military affiliated, I caneither help them myself or I
have you know a network that Ican try to send them the right
direction.
I I'm a certified claims agentwith um disabled American
(14:36):
veterans.
So if they need, you know, tofile a claim or, you know, try
to get increased disability, Ican get that started for them.
SPEAKER_01 (14:46):
I think that's how I first met you as you were with
DAV.
SPEAKER_00 (14:50):
Yeah, I still do that.
SPEAKER_01 (14:51):
I still do that.
Okay.
All right.
What inspired you to getinvolved with Salvation Army?
SPEAKER_00 (14:58):
Susan Evans is the director, and she's been my
pastor for 12, 13 years.
I'm not sure however long, butjust kind of followed her in
there and works out well.
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (15:11):
Well, you always bring a smile and a cheery look
to wherever you are ringingbells.
What's your week like this week?
SPEAKER_00 (15:21):
Well, I want to say one more thing about uh the
downtown.
We don't have the thrift storeanymore, but we still have the
closed closet upstairs.
We just give everything away.
We're not accepting donationsright now because it is just so
packed full.
And the downstairs is full ofall the angel tree gifts.
(15:41):
If anybody has um taken one ofthe angel tree tags, I think
that the gifts have to be in byit's either the 18th or the
21st.
Okay.
So please make sure you getthose gifts um to the store.
But um I have a couple doctor'sappointments this week, but
(16:03):
other than that, I will be outringing the bell as much as
possible.
And the the weather's gonnaincrease, you know, be much
warmer.
I'm thankful for Saturday.
I I got the got a call sayingit's cold, it's just going down,
it's 19 degrees.
Go pick the kettles up at fiveo'clock.
(16:23):
I'm like, oh, okay, I'll do it.
And everybody was done by then.
And you know, it was nice thatthey were full of money, even
though it was that cold.
SPEAKER_01 (16:32):
So all right.
Well, you bring Christmas spiritto everyone you see.
Thank you for doing that, andthanks for the work you do with
Salvation Army and DAV.
SPEAKER_00 (16:41):
Well, thank you very much, and everybody have a Merry
Christmas.
SPEAKER_01 (16:45):
Amen.
Carla Johnson is her name.
She's the outreach coordinatorfor Salvation Army.
Always a joy to have her in thestudio.
Jay Nalu Krachenko is in next.
We're going to get an update onthe activities that are coming
up in the near future.
There's a bunch of them, notnecessarily here during uh the
remainder of December, but we'llgive you a preview of some
things happening in January aswell.
(17:06):
It is the GMCF Community Hour.
We do this every Monday morningin the 10 o'clock time frame on
News Radio.
Philanthropy Today is brought to you by the Greater
Manhattan Community Foundation.
In this episode, we feature arecently broadcast segment of
the GMTF Community Hour, asheard on News Radio KMAN.
We are back with the GMCFCommunity Hour here on News
Radio KMAN.
Carla Johnson is here.
Carla is with Salvation Army asan outreach coordinator, and
(00:24):
you'll see her a lot here duringthe holidays.
Various storefronts, and I don'tknow too many people that bling
out like you do.
SPEAKER_00 (00:32):
Well, good morning, Manhattan.
Thank you.
I I love my my bling.
SPEAKER_01 (00:36):
You're right.
She's got a Holly Jolly sweaterwith uh sequins spelling out,
oh, it's Jolly Holly.
SPEAKER_00 (00:44):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (00:44):
Jolly Holly.
And she's got a Santa hat thatis reversible.
And we have the green and silveron this side that we're looking
at now because she's in front ofthe green microphone here in the
studio, and it just seemed tomake sense.
With a power cat button on it.
SPEAKER_00 (01:01):
Yep, gotta have my power cat.
SPEAKER_01 (01:04):
Yeah.
Is this your favorite time ofyear?
SPEAKER_00 (01:07):
This in Halloween.
My birthday is in October.
So I really love Halloween too.
SPEAKER_01 (01:13):
My brother's birthday is on Halloween.
SPEAKER_00 (01:15):
Oh, cool.
SPEAKER_01 (01:15):
Yeah, he's a spook baby.
Have you ever heard that term?
SPEAKER_00 (01:18):
Yes, I have.
SPEAKER_01 (01:21):
Oh, when uh when um my late wife was pregnant, we
were, you know, daughter was dueNovember 6th, and she says, Boy,
I hope she doesn't come early.
I don't want no spook baby.
But uh anyway, hey, we're hereto talk about uh Salvation Army.
And there's been a lot of changewith Salvation Army here locally
(01:43):
in the last few years.
You're an outreach coordinator,and you know, you're involved
right now with the bell ringing,and we'll talk about that today.
But let's talk about some of thethe stuff that Salvation Army is
doing and some of the changesthat uh you've uh undertaken in
the last couple of years.
SPEAKER_00 (02:01):
Well, as an outreach coordinator, I am a paid
contractor.
I'm not an actual Salvation Armyemployee.
I do fundraising and PR, such asthis interview.
Uh, we had an online auction andit ended the day of our kettle
(02:22):
kickoff, November 13th.
Our goal was to raise$800 forthe gift cards that we were
donated.
And we ended up uh raising$545.
So that was still pretty goodfor our first ever online
auction.
We will be having a secondonline auction that'll start in
(02:44):
November, uh not November,sorry, February.
And the um the theme for thatone will be Love Beyond.
And it will be not justrestaurants.
We're gonna have some differentum, hopefully like uh car
washes, oil changes.
(03:05):
I've been pledged a car detailship, car detailing from John
Murdoch Auto, which is where myson works, and you know, just
different things like that uhfrom around the community.
And like I said, that'll startin February.
We also have a new uh fundraisergoing on with in conjunction
(03:29):
with Texas Roadhouse right now.
We have um business cards thatsays present this card for a
free appetizer with purchase ofan entree and choose from the
cactus blossom, fried pickles,tater skins, rattlesnake bites,
or cheese fries.
Then when you get your freeentree, you make any type of
(03:53):
free appetizer.
Free, yeah, free appetizer withthe entree.
You make any type of donation,whether it's a dollar on up,
that donation amount comes backto Salvation Army.
Wow.
And that is good, I believe,just here in Manhattan at the
Texas and it's good through uhSeptember.
SPEAKER_01 (04:13):
Correct.
So I'm I looked at that.
Yeah, because I want to makesure ahead of time frame.
Where do you get these, Lou?
SPEAKER_00 (04:19):
Um, right now I have a box and we have a box down at
Salvation Army.
Um, so you can get a hold ofyour bell ringers have them?
Um, no, we don't.
I probably should give them toour full-time bell ringers.
SPEAKER_01 (04:34):
I'm bell ringing here this week.
SPEAKER_00 (04:35):
Yes, I could give you a few if you wanted to pass
them out if anybody wants those.
SPEAKER_01 (04:42):
Okay, all right.
And in addition, do you do youstill give like the candy canes
and if anybody comes in with adonation?
You used to do that years ago,so yeah, it's better.
SPEAKER_00 (04:51):
I haven't done that.
SPEAKER_01 (04:52):
Yeah, okay.
Well, we've got um, you know,you have goals, you know, fifty
thousand dollars is a goal forfundraising too.
SPEAKER_00 (05:00):
It was keyboard.
We were we were doing reallygood before the couple of cold
snaps hit.
We were getting about a thousanddollars a day, and that's that's
really fell off with the thecold weather, and a lot of our
full-time or our paid bellringers have been sick.
Uh, this this past Saturday, wedid really well with the
(05:21):
volunteers.
All of the kettles had almostfull of money, which was just a
joy to to pick those up.
Um, there's two kettlecoordinators, of which I am one
of the other uh kettlecoordinators.
She puts the kettles out in themorning as well as the battery
packs for the four tap and paystations we have.
(05:44):
And then she puts out any apronsand bells for volunteers that
might be there that day.
And then I pick them up in theevening and take the battery
packs out and you know, gatherthe aprons and bells and take
them down to the office and lockthem up.
Um, new last year was the firstyear that we had tap to pay
(06:08):
because so many people is like,oh, I don't have any cash.
I'll try to get cash in thestore.
And then they forget and youknow, they don't donate.
Goes.
So last year was the first yearthat we had tap to pay.
It's has a battery pack in it,and the amounts of five, 10, and
25 are predetermined.
(06:31):
And you can just tap your creditcard, or if you have um Apple
Pay or Google Pay on your phone,you can just tap your phone on
one of those amounts.
SPEAKER_01 (06:41):
One of these days I'll learn how to do that.
SPEAKER_00 (06:44):
And um, it just beeps and it takes it out of,
you know, your credit card, yourdebit card, your Apple Pay,
whichever.
And that's really easy, but ithas a huge battery pack on it.
And I guess last year some ofthe battery packs did get
stolen.
So we're we're really vigilantabout that this year, not not
(07:06):
having that happen and hasn'thasn't been a problem so far.
SPEAKER_01 (07:10):
Okay.
I'm gonna be a bell ringer.
There's other slots for peopleto sign up.
SPEAKER_00 (07:16):
Correct.
SPEAKER_01 (07:16):
How do they do that?
SPEAKER_00 (07:18):
You go to register to ringto ring.com, and the
slots are two-hour slots.
You can choose from Dylan's Eastand Dylan's West.
There's two uh two doors at twokettles at Dylan's West.
Walmart has two kettles, Hivehas two kettles, and Hobby Lobby
(07:42):
has one.
So there's eight differentkettles here in town.
SPEAKER_01 (07:45):
Go at each entrance of those of those doors.
SPEAKER_00 (07:48):
And then there's also kettles in Junction City,
Wamigo, and then new this year,we have kettles in Onega and
Westmoreland.
Really?
And the money raised in eachcommunity stays in that county.
So the money raised in Onega, uhWestmoreland and Wamigo stays in
(08:10):
Pot County.
Everything raised in Manhattanstays in Riley County,
everything in Junction Citystays in Geary County.
SPEAKER_01 (08:17):
Good to know.
Is that new this year?
SPEAKER_00 (08:19):
Uh no, no, it's always been that way.
SPEAKER_01 (08:22):
Okay.
All right.
I learned something new with youtoday.
Thanks, Carlett.
SPEAKER_00 (08:26):
Yeah, I think it's really, really neat that we have
the the two new towns that we'reexpanding to.
SPEAKER_01 (08:32):
Okay.
Say someone's listening andsays, Hey, I want to ring bells
for Salvation Army.
What tips do you have for them?
SPEAKER_00 (08:40):
Have fun with it.
Dress warm, of course.
Yeah.
Make sure your feet are warm.
Wear gloves.
Oh yeah.
Um I mean, I I dress up.
I you don't have to wear asparkly Santa hat, but I'd say
wear it.
SPEAKER_01 (08:54):
I have a purple one.
Is that all right?
SPEAKER_00 (08:56):
Oh, yeah, definitely.
In this town, I'd say not redand blue.
SPEAKER_01 (08:59):
Okay.
Okay.
Red, green.
SPEAKER_00 (09:01):
Red, red and green is perfect.
SPEAKER_01 (09:03):
Um, you know, we nobody wears blue Santa hats.
SPEAKER_00 (09:06):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (09:06):
Not in Riley County.
SPEAKER_00 (09:07):
Yeah.
Um, we will provide an apron.
You know, this is uh volunteer.
We provide a bell.
I mean, I I'm usually inside, soI have this little wrist bell
because when I'm at Hobby Lobby,if I write bring a blue loud
one.
SPEAKER_01 (09:20):
Where can I get one of those?
SPEAKER_00 (09:22):
Um I think this one at Hobby Lobby, but I think they
have some at uh Dollar Tree.
Okay.
But we provide them.
Oh, okay.
We provide them with the theaprons that we have at the
stands for the volunteers.
Most places will let you playmusic if you have a Bluetooth
speaker.
SPEAKER_01 (09:41):
I have a lot of speakers.
SPEAKER_00 (09:42):
I I bet you do, Dave.
SPEAKER_01 (09:44):
You probably have playlists.
SPEAKER_00 (09:45):
You have probably most speakers of anybody in
town.
SPEAKER_01 (09:48):
I'm in the top 10.
SPEAKER_00 (09:50):
I would say so.
But yeah, and I play Christmasmusic.
Uh, you know, I tell everybodygood, you know, good morning,
good afternoon, have a good day.
SPEAKER_01 (09:58):
No thriller.
No, somebody's watching me.
SPEAKER_00 (10:01):
No, no, nothing like that.
Um and I usually used to letkids ring my bells, uh-huh, but
with so much sickness goingaround, I have a second one.
I just sat down on the very andlet them use that one, and then
I have my own so we don'ttransfer germs.
SPEAKER_01 (10:21):
Yeah.
So how many times are you gonnabe doing bell ringing?
You're out there every day,aren't you?
SPEAKER_00 (10:28):
Most, almost every day, yes.
We we ring um every day butSunday up until Christmas Eve.
SPEAKER_01 (10:38):
Okay.
All right.
SPEAKER_00 (10:39):
And I I go kind of sort of wherever they need me.
SPEAKER_01 (10:42):
How many different outfits do you have?
SPEAKER_00 (10:44):
Many outfits?
SPEAKER_01 (10:45):
Uh-huh.
I mean Do you duplicate any?
SPEAKER_00 (10:48):
Oh, yes.
Yeah, I have about six differentSanta hats.
You know, and this one, thisone, you know, has the two
different mermaid sequins and isthat what they're called?
Yes, that's what they're called.
SPEAKER_01 (11:00):
I was thinking of candy stripes.
SPEAKER_00 (11:02):
But it's mermaid sequins because it's one side,
one color, and then you flip itand it's got a different color
the other side.
I have about ten I have aboutten different Christmas
sweaters.
SPEAKER_01 (11:12):
Uh-huh.
Okay.
Are they uh ugly?
Are they gorgeous?
SPEAKER_00 (11:17):
I have a couple ugly sweaters, what they call.
SPEAKER_01 (11:19):
Yeah.
Does the uh apron cover up theugly sweaters enough?
SPEAKER_00 (11:24):
I don't wear an apron.
I just wear my name tag.
SPEAKER_01 (11:27):
Oh.
But the volunteers don't have aname tag.
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (11:30):
I mean, you could probably just wrap it around
your waist and show off whatyou're wearing.
SPEAKER_01 (11:36):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (11:36):
I know there's one one family a couple years ago.
Um, the mother dressed up asMrs.
Claus, the dad was a Christmastree, and their little daughter
was an elf.
I mean, if you have a Grinchoutfit, that would be perfect.
SPEAKER_01 (11:51):
I don't have a Grinch outfit.
I have a cat in the hat, or atleast I used to.
SPEAKER_00 (11:55):
That would be cool.
SPEAKER_01 (11:55):
I do have Santa.
I do have Elvis.
I don't have a Christmas Elvis.
That would be fun.
I could do that sometime.
SPEAKER_00 (12:02):
You could do Elvis with the purple Santa hat.
SPEAKER_01 (12:05):
Hmm.
Yeah, I don't have purple on myElvis.
It's it's white with red andsuch, but the red Santa hat,
that might work.
SPEAKER_00 (12:13):
That would work, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (12:14):
I'll have to think about that.
I don't know if it's warmenough.
Put put long johns on it.
Well, I'm pretty good aboutkeeping those in stock.
I've been going through a lot ofthose lately.
Well, let's talk about uh someother things here.
Um, you know, and specificallyabout Salvation Army and some of
(12:35):
the assistance that you provide.
Things have changed withSalvation Army.
You don't have the storedowntown like you used to, but
you have a facility that that isthere to assist people in
various needs.
And of course, you know, youhelp people out with, you know,
whenever there's a fire anddifferent things like that.
(12:56):
So let's talk a bit about someof the some of the needs that
you help fulfill in thecommunity.
SPEAKER_00 (13:01):
One thing that we do differently than any of the
other um agencies that provideemergency assistance is we help
college students.
Um most college students, youknow, aren't considered
residents of Riley County.
So we can help them, whereas alot of the other agencies don't
(13:24):
with their um, you know, rent orutility, something like that.
And another thing we uh canassist with is um helping
somebody get their tags andtaxes on their vehicle because
if you can't drive your vehicle,you can't get to work.
And that's just gonna create uh,you know, a worse cycle of you
(13:48):
know, not having the money, notpaying the bills, etc.
We also, you know, help um ifsomebody needs a prescription,
we have a partnership withburied drugs downtown that we
can help out that way also.
SPEAKER_01 (14:05):
It's nice when you got local people helping local
people.
SPEAKER_00 (14:08):
Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_01 (14:09):
Now you're you're past military.
Are you retired?
SPEAKER_00 (14:13):
Uh no, just a disabled veteran.
SPEAKER_01 (14:15):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (14:16):
And so I I do um when anybody comes in that's
military affiliated, I caneither help them myself or I
have you know a network that Ican try to send them the right
direction.
I I'm a certified claims agentwith um disabled American
(14:36):
veterans.
So if they need, you know, tofile a claim or, you know, try
to get increased disability, Ican get that started for them.
SPEAKER_01 (14:46):
I think that's how I first met you as you were with
DAV.
SPEAKER_00 (14:50):
Yeah, I still do that.
SPEAKER_01 (14:51):
I still do that.
Okay.
All right.
What inspired you to getinvolved with Salvation Army?
SPEAKER_00 (14:58):
Susan Evans is the director, and she's been my
pastor for 12, 13 years.
I'm not sure however long, butjust kind of followed her in
there and works out well.
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (15:11):
Well, you always bring a smile and a cheery look
to wherever you are ringingbells.
What's your week like this week?
SPEAKER_00 (15:21):
Well, I want to say one more thing about uh the
downtown.
We don't have the thrift storeanymore, but we still have the
closed closet upstairs.
We just give everything away.
We're not accepting donationsright now because it is just so
packed full.
And the downstairs is full ofall the angel tree gifts.
(15:41):
If anybody has um taken one ofthe angel tree tags, I think
that the gifts have to be in byit's either the 18th or the
21st.
Okay.
So please make sure you getthose gifts um to the store.
But um I have a couple doctor'sappointments this week, but
(16:03):
other than that, I will be outringing the bell as much as
possible.
And the the weather's gonnaincrease, you know, be much
warmer.
I'm thankful for Saturday.
I I got the got a call sayingit's cold, it's just going down,
it's 19 degrees.
Go pick the kettles up at fiveo'clock.
(16:23):
I'm like, oh, okay, I'll do it.
And everybody was done by then.
And you know, it was nice thatthey were full of money, even
though it was that cold.
SPEAKER_01 (16:32):
So all right.
Well, you bring Christmas spiritto everyone you see.
Thank you for doing that, andthanks for the work you do with
Salvation Army and DAV.
SPEAKER_00 (16:41):
Well, thank you very much, and everybody have a Merry
Christmas.
SPEAKER_01 (16:45):
Amen.
Carla Johnson is her name.
She's the outreach coordinatorfor Salvation Army.
Always a joy to have her in thestudio.
Jay Nalu Krachenko is in next.
We're going to get an update onthe activities that are coming
up in the near future.
There's a bunch of them, notnecessarily here during uh the
remainder of December, but we'llgive you a preview of some
things happening in January aswell.
(17:06):
It is the GMCF Community Hour.
We do this every Monday morningin the 10 o'clock time frame on
News Radio.
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