All of the bell ringing paid off.
"We are happy to announce that though our goal of $570,000 was challenging, we actually ended up raising $572,600.81," said the Captain of the Toledo area Salvation Army.
Captain Kevin Zanders said it was support from the Toledo Walleye hockey team, Maumee schools, the Toledo Hollywood Casino, Kroger and many others who contributed to the success of the Red Kettle Campaign.
But it was Toledo staple the Anderson's Retail Group that went the extra mile this year.
"They allowed us to stand here right from day one and they had the donation matching which was a tremendous help. Every dollar that went into the kettle they matched up to $10,000. In three days we raised $16,000," Zanders said.
Dan Anderson, president of the retail company, said the community is the real hero in this campaign.
"This is as grassroots as a community effort that you can get," he said. "It literally comes down to everybody in the community putting a quarter in the kettle when they walk out of retail stores."
Captain Zanders and his wife Captain Tawny Cowen-Zanders came to the Toledo Salvation Army from Massillon, Ohio. Even though they reached and exceeded the over half a million dollar goal, they did hit some bumps along the way.
"We've had several challenges. Just the economy for one was a challenge. We had a loss of hours in some stores which was a challenge, too," Zanders said.
Anderson said he's impressed with the way the new captains jumped right into the community.
"Kevin and Tawny, the new directors in town, they're brand new but man they didn't waste any time getting out and interfacing with the community," he said.
As for next year, Captain Zanders said he wants to see more use of the Salvation Army's ability to receive donations via text message and he'd like to get more area schools involved.
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