This year, people aren’t the only ones to ring the bells
By Julie Rossman
Correspondent
Every December in Union Grove, faithful volunteers from local service organizations camp outside of Mullberry’s Restaurant and at the Piggly Wiggly, ringing the bell for the Salvation Army.
Organizations that provide volunteers each year include: the Union Grove Kiwanis and Lions clubs, the Masonic Lodge and Yorkville and Rising Stars 4-H clubs, each taking a different Saturday in December.
“We enjoy it – it’s fun!” said Skip Kovach, a volunteer bell ringer and member of Union Grove Lodge 288, Free and Accepted Masons.
Kovach said he likes that all of the money raised from the Red Kettle campaign in Union Grove stays in the Union Grove area.
“That’s why we do it – we know it stays here,” Kovach said.
Kitty George, Union Grove, is the local volunteer representative for the Salvation Army. She says people often don’t realize that the money stays right here.
“Every penny raised in Union Grove is kept in Union Grove,” George said.
The Salvation Army works through a number of local agencies and organizations to provide funding for those in need, including the Union Grove Area Food Bank.
The Henningfeld family, Yorkville, each year volunteers to ring the bell as part of the Rising Stars 4-H Club.
The family will be at the Piggly Wiggly on Saturday, Christmas Eve, with a very special guest.
Linnett Henningfeld says her nine-year-old daughter Miranda is the proud owner of a miniature horse named Whiskey. Miranda has been working with her three-year-old horse to train him to ring a bell.
He’ll be with the family at Piggly Wiggly on Christmas Eve, beginning at 10:00 a.m.
“We thought it would be fun to take her little guy,” Linnett said of the horse.
The family got the idea from a horse in West Bend that holds a bell in his mouth and rings it. Though Whiskey is still learning – he’ll have a bell around his neck – the family is looking forward to it.
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