Thrivent Financial Red Kettle Match Day

APPLETON - The Salvation Army-Fox Cities is hoping they'll add more than $250,000 to this year's red kettle campaign.

It's all part of the ninth annual Thrivent Financial Red Kettle Match Day. The company will match up to $125,000 of the money raised on Friday.    

However, results won't be in until next week.

It's not quite Lake Winnebago, but a few local anglers made the best of it Friday, right inside Festival Foods in Appleton.

It's all to help fill the seasonal red kettles and their efforts seem to be working.

Each group of volunteers mans the kettles with different holiday or winter themes.

"This is the longest running match day and it's the largest running match day in the nation for the Salvation Army," explained Captain Randy Tooley with The Salvation Army-Fox Cities.

The success of the Thrivent Financial match day has inspired others to do the same.

"The Salvation Army used a model we put together in the Fox Cities. They're rolling it out to other communities across the country," said Peter Gianopoulos with Thrivent Financial. "So in Chicago and New York, they're now going to have match days that'll be rolling out similar to the model we have here."

The holiday cheer will help benefit more than 2,400 needy families in the Fox Cities this year.

That's an increase of more than 640 families since 2007.

"It helps us out," said Doug Hill of Appleton.

Hill uses the food pantry to help feed his family. He says any effort to help keep the shelves stocked means the world.

"I'm real thankful for that, so it helps us out through the end of the month to get by for food and to share it and stuff," Hill said.

Thrivent will announce the results of the match day campaign next Wednesday.

A match day earlier this month from the J.J. Keller Foundation, Inc. brought in more than $35,000 for the Salvation Army.

The Christmas campaign runs until Dec. 24. The goal for the Fox Cities campaign is $1.2 million.

Salvation Army leaders say they are still in need of bell ringers. Click here to sign up.