CINCINNATI — As more shoppers start ditching the cash for cards, nonprofits are changing the way they ask for donations starting at those red kettles.

Organizers are hoping a cashless kettle and a donation to remember a long time volunteer helps bring in more donations. 

What You Need To Know

  • Cincinnati's Salvation Army has a new face on the red kettles, Jim Scott's, a longtime radio host who often volunteered 

  • Scott's wife is volunteering in hopes more families will give in his honor to support the increased need for food and shelter

  • Salvation Army is also now taking payments through QR codes and tap to pay to try to get more shoppers donating 

Donna Hartman is hanging on to the things she can still hold, her husband’s bell and a cardboard cutout, that are a reminder of her husband Jim Scott.

He died back in June after a long battle with ALS disease, but she’s smiling because of the bells ringing. 

“Jim’s got my back, and he sits right on my shoulder and whispers in my ear all the time,” said Hartman. 

Her husband of almost three decades was a long time radio host and a long time volunteer in Cincinnati, and she’s picking up where he left off. She’s ringing bells in his honor to help raise money for the Salvation Army.

“He was your friend, and he loved you and you never met a more outgoing social person in your whole life, and he loved meeting people and meeting everyone,” said Hartman.

They’re calling it “Remember in December.” Salvation Army officers said every penny raised in his honor goes straight into their fund that helps provide shelter and food.

“The need is up applications for need for food and rent assistance and utilities and even Christmas. This Christmas assistance is up in this last calendar year, 33%,” said Major Martha Bone, Director of Operations for Cincinnati’s Salvation Army.

She said inflation is behind the increased need, but donations are changing.

“Far fewer people than usual, far fewer people in these days are carrying cash, so what does that mean to us when 30% of our annual income, our annual budget, is what we raise at Christmas time?” said Bone.

If you don’t have change, they’ve added QR codes. Out of state, red kettles are using tap to pay, and there’s an event like this one that’s bringing in more donors and remembering those who gave their time.

“That’s kind of what that means to me. This is what Jim would be doing,” said Hartman.

Salvation Army red kettle volunteers will ring bells until Christmas and still need help to reach their fundraising goal. If you would like to help or volunteer, you can find more information here.