The Mainstreet Organization of REALTORS® (MORe) is partnering with The Salvation Army-Metropolitan Division for a second straight year to bring cheer to northeastern Illinois this holiday season. From Thanksgiving through Christmas, Mainstreet REALTORS® will ring bells at The Salvation Army’s iconic red kettles, raising money to help neighbors in need.

Two members posing with Salvation Army red kettle

Mainstreet Board Member Debbie Pawlowicz (left) and her daughter Kristi Gorski ring bells over the weekend at the Jewel-Osco in Lisle.

“I’m thrilled with the partnership Mainstreet REALTORS® are fostering with the Salvation Army,” said John Gormley, CEO of Mainstreet. “It makes me proud when I see how much Mainstreet REALTORS® are vested in the community, volunteering their time. That’s who we R!”

New this year, Mainstreet is encouraging offices to match donations at their kettles – dollar for dollar up to $250, $500 or $750 – increasing the impact Mainstreet REALTORS® can make on the communities they live and work in.

Last year, Mainstreet REALTORS® rang bells for more than 130 hours and raised $3,542.85, which was enough to provide one month’s rent for three families, fund 136 flood kits or provide 1,700 meals for individuals experiencing homelessness. Inspired by this life-changing impact, Mainstreet is volunteering with The Salvation Army-Metropolitan Division again this year, this time with a goal of doubling what was raised last year.

The Salvation Army-Metropolitan Division extends from the Illinois-Wisconsin border to Joliet and from Rockford to Lake County in Indiana.

The Salvation Army raises nearly 70 percent of its annual donations during the Christmas season, and the donations stay in the local community where it is raised. Last year, red kettle donations were used to:

  • Serve more than 850,000 meals
  • Provide shelter for nearly 6,000 men, women and children
  • Pay nearly 90,000 rent/mortgage/utility/prescription bills
  • Support more than 14,000 survivors of disasters as well as first responders
Two REALTORS ring bells by Salvation Army red kettles

Dan Gleason and Megan Beechen of Realty Executives Elite ring bells as part of the Young Professional Network of Mainstreet at the Shop N Save in Downers Grove.

This marks the 129th year of the Army’s use of red kettles as a giving tradition across the country. The Red Kettle Campaign began in 1891 when Salvation Army Captain Joseph McFee wanted to feed 1,000 people in San Francisco on Christmas Day. He remembered his days as a sailor in Liverpool, England, when passersby threw coins for the poor into an iron kettle on the dock. He placed a kettle at the foot of Market Street on Embarcadero with a sign reading “keep the pot boiling.” Within a decade, the idea was copied in New York and Boston. Today, the nationwide effort serves more than 6 million people.

MORe is led by Gormley, President Brian Kwilosz, President-elect Linda Dressler, Treasurer John LeTourneau and Immediate Past President Michael Gobber. Mainstreet serves 18,360 members in the Chicagoland area.

(This is the seventh in a series of blog posts about charitable community work performed by local Illinois REALTORS® during the finals months of the year. Watch for more stories in the coming days.)