FORT COLLINS, Colo. — A decades-old tradition from the Salvation Army is alive and well after a rare Krugerrand gold coin was found inside one of the famous Salvation Army red kettles in Fort Colins this holiday season.
For the 26th year in a row, the one-ounce South African gold coin was pulled from a red kettle at a King Soopers store in Fort Collins on Dec 23. The coin is valued at more than $2,700 in today’s currency.
“The Salvation Army staff were delighted to find the coin and to learn that the giving tradition, which began in 1998, had continued,” a spokesperson for the Salvation Army said in a news release. “The nearly annual mysterious donation is dropped in a local Red Kettle during the weeks leading up to Christmas.”
While the Krugerrand tradition lives on in Fort Collins, red kettle campaign donations to the Salvation Army were down throughout Colorado this year, the spokesperson said.
“The donations we receive during the Red Kettle holiday season help our neighbors all year long,” said Major Nesan Kistan, Divisional Commander of The Salvation Army Intermountain Division, which includes Colorado. “Our neighbors face hunger, job losses, insurmountable bills and many additional discouragements. Our services are needed by so many families.”
The spokesperson said all donations made to The Salvation Army remain in the Colorado communities in which they were made, providing meals, food boxes, utilities assistance and more.
Community members may help keep these programs running by donating anytime of the year. In Fort Collins, one option is via The Salvation Army’s website.
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