There is one week left in the Turlock Salvation Army’s annual Red Kettle holiday fundraising drive, and the nonprofit organization is in desperate need of a few last-minute bell ringers.

Every year, red kettles are placed in front of businesses around town to collect monetary donations from holiday shoppers. Manning these iconic red kettles are volunteer bell ringers.

“We don’t even have half of the normal volunteers that we usually have,” said red kettle coordinator Beverly Spielman. “Each site we have, and we have 11 sites, most of them don’t have a consistent bell ringer. And if they do, it’s only for a two-hour shift so instead of most of the time slots filled, as we have in the past, this year we barely had a quarter of our slots filled.”

The Salvation Army’s red kettles have a long history in California. 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.

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.

The effort was a huge success, with the kettle idea spreading to 30 locations on the West Coast by 1895 and reaching Boston by 1897.

The holiday season and the red kettles are the Salvation Army’s largest annual fundraising campaign. During the Turlock Kettle Kickoff luncheon held in November, Capt. Jeffrey Breazeale said the funds raised last year “helped purchase groceries for over 1,000 families. It assisted many families with utility assistance, and it helped 500 families with networking and counseling.” He went on to say it also funds the Army’s daily after-school program and their senior citizen center.

It's not too late to sign up to be a volunteer bell ringer at registertoring.com. Spielman said people can sign up in the morning to ring that same day, up to and including Christmas Eve. She said it’s the perfect opportunity for students looking for community service hours, service clubs, youth groups, families or individuals just looking to make a difference this holiday season.

Girl Scout Daisy Troop 3452 was in front of the Village Fresh Market on Tuesday ringing bells and singing to Christmas music played from a speaker. Alix Ribeiro Clausen said this is the first year the Daisy troop has volunteered to ring bells for the Salvation Army, but it complimented perfectly the troop’s recent modules on being money smart and also their Good Neighbor badges.

“We learned about money for our Girl Scout cookie sales (which she said is just around the corner). And then we learned about money, and we had a little shop. Then we segued that into learning about people who are less fortunate and what the Salvation Army does, and that we’re going to raise money for people who need it during Christmas time.”

The Daisy troop’s energy and holiday spirit was a huge draw to the Village Fresh shoppers on Tuesday. Ribeiro Clausen said in the 30 minutes they had been out there, every shopper so far had donated money either coming in or going out of the store.

To sign up to be a volunteer bell ringer, visit: registertoring.com.