Roch, NY Salvation Army Bell Ringing - Dec 17th 1pm-4pm

I was thinking of doing this, somewhere, sometime, in my plenty-warm Anakin costume, this season. Anyone else had any inclination to do the same? (Still off-line, at the moment. I'm at the library... again.)

 

Can't say I've ever had the inclination actually. And now that I think of it - I've never seen a group of bell ringers before...

I can't find anything on their website that has information about becoming a bell ringer. I suppose I could ask at the Thrift Store down the street from me.

Another option would be their new online kettles. I know not as much physical exposure that way, but it would be warmer.

~Doc_Bev

P.S. I'll put in a request to get the duplicate thread removed.

 

I know some of the 501st garrisons have done it. Of course be prepared for the 'What's Star Wars have to do with Christmas?' comments.

 

yea groups do it all the time at the mall, I've also seen the girlscounts doing it & then selling cookies inside

 

Actually that sounds like fun.. especially inside

 

and ONLY inside

 

I'm all for it, Dean.

 

I can't say that I recall seeing any bell ringers inside stores. I thought one of the "rules" was that you had to be outside.

~Doc_Bev

 

Cant special circumstances be made?

 

There are tons of bell ringers inside. In town, we have them inside at Topps market...and in the Galleria Mall, there were people just in the walk ways set up.

Some are inside...they are they are!

 

Indeed I've seen them inside at Eastview and outside! Perhaps if a store, business, etc wants to support it? I don't even know how we go about it exactly though.... does anyone else?

 

Cant you just call the local Salvation Army?
I'm not entirely sure how the process goes but I remember ringing bells as a Boy Scout...

 

I'll try calling after I get Connor down for his nap.

~Doc_Bev

 

Royal Guards are dressed for the season. (sorry - couldn't resist)

 

Actually, that's a good point...



But people may get the kettle confused with your helmet.

 

Well, I didn't get Connor down for his nap until after their offices closed so I'll have to try again tomorrow.

~Doc_Bev

 

EDIT:
Just heard back from Salvation Army. I took the liberty of signing us up for a volunteer shift. Here are the details:

Marketplace Mall
outside the JCPenny's entrance facing W Henrietta Road
Saturday, December 17th from 1pm-4pm

They sounded excited to hear that we would be appearing in costume. We will be given a sign for our kettle advertising our club.

My thought was that we could stand by the kettle in shifts of 2 for a 1/2 hour and then rotate with the others inside the mall to try to stay warm. The more people we have the less time each person needs to stay outside.

They are also looking for volunteers to fill shifts on Dec 24th if people are feeling really ambitious, but I have a feeling I'll be too busy wrapping presents, etc that day.

Please post here if you're willing to volunteer for this. The other option was a 5pm-8pm-ish shift if that works out better for most people I could see if we could get switched to that.

~Doc_Bev

 

I might be able to make it for a little bit but I have a company dinner that day too...

 

I can make it and will be going to my office christmas dinner afterwards too. Sounds like fun. Hmmm, do you think black armor counts as formal wear?

 

I got our volunteer pack in the mail today. It included:
6 volunteer stickers (which I think I'm going to mount on lanyards so that we don't have to try to unstick them from costumes later and if we happen to manage to get more than 6 volunteers we can rotate them amongst ourselves)
a sign for our kettle
a FAQ sheet
and our assignment sheet.

*moved list to next page*

Even if you can't volunteer for the full time - that's fine. Even part of the shift would give some relief to those standing outside.
I was thinking we could meet at the mall at Noon to have something to eat for lunch, then suit up and head to our station. On their map it looks like Friendly's is 2 storefronts down from J.C. Penney's and the Food Court is just down a "block". So either of those might be good lunch options.

~Doc_Bev

 

I'm going to take a pass on this one, I'm already working the mall 4-10 that night I have no desire to be there any longer than i have to.

 

On stilts at the mall...sounds like fun to me. I can be there from 1 to 4 but i dont know if i can do lunch before that.

 

Here comes the Monkeywrench...
My holiday party is 12-4 on Saturday. ARGH!
I'll ring the bell from 3-4 and just spend 3 hours at the Holiday Party.

 

That's fine Wingnut. You don't need to leave the party early (unless you want to )
This was sort of a last minute event, so I'll just be glad to get any help I can.

~Doc_Bev

 

Press release has been sent out for this event. It's not enough notice for print publications, but plenty of time for TV/Radio should they choose to interview us.

~Doc_Bev