The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

Every year I see a story in the paper and on the television about how some unknown person has dropped a real gold coin in one of the Salvation Army kettles in Tulsa.

What a nice story...but I am suspicious. I did a google search with "gold coin kettle" and found over a million hits. It turns out every Salvation Army kettle program in the country has such an incredible coincidence. The coins are always described about the same and appear in the news on almost the same day each year in every town.

I just think it is an amazing coincidence that the coins are the same each year and that there is one person in every town in America who puts a coin in a kettle on the same day.

You don't suppose it could just be an inside job do you?

Yeah, that story goes around all over. We have the same thing in Columbus, Ohio. I think it's some stunt or something. There was also a story a while ago that one pot had a $10,000 check in it or something like that.

The Salvation Army makes me nervous. I see them all over the place like someone declared Martial Law. I don't think they will be much help if we have any real emergencies though.

I always get salvation, salvage, and salve mixed up.

Do I want to be delivered from evil, saved from destruction or merely cover a wound?

Salvation Army's dropping their Krugerands in their own pots again this year:

Tradition continues with donation of valuable Krugerrand coin to Salvation Army Red Kettle

http://www.kjrh.com/dpp/news/local_news/tradition-continues-with-donation-of-valuable-krugerrand-coin-to-salvation-army-red-kettle (http://www.kjrh.com/dpp/news/local_news/tradition-continues-with-donation-of-valuable-krugerrand-coin-to-salvation-army-red-kettle)

You couldn't be more wrong.

I've worked as a communications volunteer with Salvation Army during fires, floods, and the OKC bombing.  I was with them in Skiatook when an ammonium hydroxide pipeline ruptured.  One of the other SA guys said, "When a disaster happens, the Red Cross goes to the television stations and the Salvation Army goes to work."  I saw the proof of that first hand.

In Skiatook, the firefighters, paramedics, and police officers who'd responded from surrounding communities walked right past the sleek Red Cross van and came to the SA canteen truck for food and drinks. 

In a flood on the Arkansas, the canteen roamed the impacted neighborhood, delivering water, soft drinks, and sandwiches to anyone who approached.  I'm pretty sure some of the local kids had sugar highs from the sodas as they returned multiple times.

SA was in Catoosa after the tornado.  They were up near Collinsville during a wildfire.  They turned out for a huge chemical fire in BA.  But I remember the bombing best.  We ran a taxi service, shuttling people to and from the airport or the SA Thrift Stores.  People who lived near the Murrah building had nothing but the clothes on their backs.  SA simply gave them vouchers to use in the stores.  I provided radio communications for the director, shadowing his every move.  SA supplied food, water, coffee and whatever else was needed through their canteen at ground zero.  They were on the scene within hours after the bombing and stayed for the duration.

SA spends more than 90% of their budget on delivering services to the poor and indigent.  Yes, they're a church, but they don't have a high profile.  They offer a service to people who would otherwise go without.  You can be certain that if you make a donation to SA, it actually goes toward relieving human suffering, not into some bank account. 

Did you seriously just freak out over a joke 4 years after the fact?

I think they do the Krugerand thing to keep the $7 Per hour bell ringers honest.

I didn't see it as a joke, but I surely did miss the date up on top.  I'm caffeine deprived today.  Time for another cuppa.

I am not a big supporter of the Salvation Army locally for a couple of reasons I don't want to elaborate on in this forum. But I have to say they saved my nephew from a life of alcoholism in a different state. They performed miracles on him and I will always be grateful.