Like Christmas trees and turkey dinners, the red kettles and bell ringers of The Salvation Army are a traditional element of the holiday season.

Just about everyone has seen the kettles and heard the jingling bells over the years. And hopefully, just about everyone has put some donations in those kettles to help those less fortunate.

Now, The Salvation Army needs some help to keep that fine tradition going. It is in need of people willing to stand next to a kettle and ring the bells.

Maj. Rick Hamelund, of The Salvation Army in Fort Dodge, reported that recruiting bell ringers is a pretty tough task lately.

”It’s really, really difficult to find anybody that’ll just stand and ring the bell a couple hours,” he said.

However, it is not difficult to actually stand and ring the bell.

Volunteering to ring the bells gives an individual an opportunity to get outside and meet a lot of people.

Most importantly, by volunteering to ring the bells, people will be contributing to a long tradition of helping others.

We urge everyone who can to volunteer for a shift ringing bells for The Salvation Army.

Yes, it will probably be cold outside during the bell ringing shifts, but we’re Iowans. We’re used to winter weather.

This year, The Salvation Army nationwide has introduced a new way to sign up for a shift ringing the bells. It’s called RegisterToRing.com. Once on the web page, a person can type in their ZIP code to find available times and locations to volunteer.

Volunteers will get a text message reminding them of their shift two hours before it begins.

We ask everybody to visit RegisterToRing.com, find a shift that works for them and then get out there to make a difference in our community.