Kiwanis Club of Longboat Key prepares for Salvation Army bell ringing

Bells will be ringing on Longboat Key sooner rather than later, and the Kiwanis Club of Longboat Key got a brief introduction to the season when representatives from the Salvation Army spoke at the Nov. 4 meeting. 

Starting Nov. 26, the day after Thanksgiving, the Kiwanis Club of Longboat Key will be outside Publix collecting coins and cash for the Salvation Army. Chris Sachs will organize the club’s efforts for the second year in a row and began passing around the sign-up sheet at the meeting. 

“You’ve been either the number one or number two producers, as far as revenue from the kettles, as long as I've been with the Salvation Army, which is starting in 2007,” said development director Glenda Leonard at the meeting. “So you’ve got a long history of being in one of the top two spots.”

Leonard was joined by another representative from Sarasota’s Salvation Army organization, Captain Ashish Pawar, who began working for this chapter about two weeks ago. However, his story with the Salvation Army goes much further than even the 15 years that he’s been an employee. Both of his parents were dropped off at the Salvation Army orphanage in Mumbai, India, and they grew up in the organization and have now served 45 years.

“I am the product of the people's generosity, and the product of people's grace towards me and my family,” Pawar said. “Brigadier Stiles (in the Salvation Army) was from America, serving as a missionary in India ... I used to call her Grandma, and I'm so inspired by her life, and I'm so grateful that she took this year old boy outside the Salvation Army and took him in …  loved him like a son and cared for him.”

Pawar watched his parents love and care for as many people as they could as they served in the Salvation Army throughout his life, and though he didn’t always understand why, his father assured him one day he’d know. Pawar eventually went into the Salvation Army and met his wife through his service in Sydney, Australia. Now, he and his family have been called to Sarasota. 

“There's so many stories that I've seen, but I know why he (my father) did what he did, he was saved from that place to serve others,” Pawar said. “My wife and my children, we want to do that. I want to become like him and my mom who serve with all their heart. Sometimes you want to see the fruit or the result of it, but I'm telling you, there's things happening in here. Lives change, there’s hope. Thank you for being the change into the community, and the things that you do.”

After the meeting, club President Michael Garey provided members with an update on the Dec. 4 Lawn Party. Ticket sales have opened and they have sold about 420 tickets out of a total 780 available seats.

Bell-ringing bonanza

The Salvation Army has three main sources of income. The individual donations that come in both year-round and from bell-ringing are number one, with state, county and federal contracts coming in second and bequests after death coming in at third. The income goes towards the thousands that are served every day by various programs including daily meals, the shelter, drug and alcohol assistance and financial assistance. 

Last year, even though the number of kettles around the country was down by 42%, the Longboat Key bell ringers brought in about $29,000. However, they came second to the St. Armands Circle bell ringers.