Treasure Hunting

It is officially one week until Christmas day,… it’s warm here in Central Florida but that doesn’t mean we’re without the holiday spirit.

I was looking around for some good treasure news and found something I thought very heart warming. It looks like two 10 ounce gold coins were dropped into a Salvation Arm kettle this week.

The gold coins are smaller than pennies but worth more than $100. This is the first time in several years that anything besides regular currency has ended up in this specific kettle, located in front of a Starbucks in Napperville, IL.

Here’s some excerpts from the article located at local newspaper, The Napperville Sun.

Tony Hall, major over operations in the greater Aurora/Naperville area, said about 40 bell ringers at 50 locations have raised $107,000 so far. The organization’s total fundraising goal this year is $220,000 – $40,000 less than the total amount raised last year.

“A lot of it was the economy … also the election year,” Hall said. “Also, we had some flooding in our area. We were trying to be realistic.”

The coins were likely donated between 4 and 8 p.m., the time slot during which ringers man the kettle each day outside Starbucks. Whoever dropped them also affixed a note that said “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Salvation Army … from the general,” Hall said.

It’s a typical note for the mystery donations. Salvation Armies throughout the country have found valuable coins in kettles over the last 20 years, often accompanied by notes signed by the “general.”

Sage said the organization will get them appraised by a gold dealer and donate the money to social services in the area.

To the various “Generals” around the country, thank you for parting with your treasures this holiday season. It’s been a difficult year for many people around the country and we’re happy to report good news such as this. And as much as we love gold, we love helping others even more.

- Shaun & Adam

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