Rick Rux on joy that ringing bells brings, as La Crosse's Salvation Army needs more Red Kettle volunteers

Rick Rux with Salvation Army of La Crosse County stopped by the WIZM studio Wednesday with the focus that they need more volunteers to ring the Red Kettle bells. Rux talked about some of the experiences he’s heard from those bell ringers — one particular volunteer stuck out, as the temps really dropped this week.   “Well yeah, it’s been cold already,” Rux said. “One of the bell ringers, as we go around, we try to talk to them, and thank them for bell ringing. His comment to me was, ‘I can be out here for a couple hours uncomfortable knowing that I’m helping people that are having to live out in this weather.'” Going around La Crosse on Wednesdaay night, bell ringers from local fire departments were stationed just inside a couple of the Festival Food stores, while two girls were toughing it out outside in the single-digit weather with positive attitudes, ringing the bell at another store. “Bell ringers tend to have a great time. And when I talk to the stores that host the bell ringers, they’re like, it lightens the mood of the employees, of their shoppers and people just have fun with it. So, it’s a really good event for familes, friends, neighbors to come out and ring the bells.” Rux said shifts are two hours, and he loves to see when people make the most of that time. The Red Kettle campaign, which runs through Christmas Eve — often the most popular, most important day for the Salvation Army — is about 30 percent of the its budget. “We have 19 locations,” Rux said. “The big push the next couple weeks here is to fill as many as those time slots as possible.” To sign up go to RegisterToRing. As for the shelter the Salvation Army runs, Rux said it’s full now. It’s always full — save for a couple minutes between tenants. “Year round, we are at a 100 percent capacity,” Rux said. “Our goal is to find individuals independent housing. And when we do that, that bed fills in — yesterday, I think we had two individuals that freed up beds and they were full in 10 minutes and 30 minutes. We, unfortunately, only have so much capacity.” Rux did say they’re still working on converting the chapel into shelter space, which will add 18 beds. For anyone that wants to get on the shelter waitlist, simply call the Salvation Army (608+782-6126) and talk to someone in shelter or head to the website.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.