Longboat Key reaches new heights in Salvation Army donations

New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago can't hold a kettle to Longboat Key.

That's a fact, says Captain Jim Curry of the Salvation Army of Sarasota.

"I've represented all of those areas, and none can compare to Longboat Key," said Curry, who spoke to the Longboat Key Kiwanis on Jan. 9.

Longboat Key has a great reputation for giving to the Salvation Army's bell-ringers with each passing year and always outpacing the prior year.

This year, not only did donators of Longboat Key outdo themselves, but it's a wonder the famous red kettle didn't snap off its chains and tumble to the ground because of excessive weight.

In 2023, the Longboat community donated a paltry $24,127.47, which, no joke, was second in the Sarasota region behind St. Armands Key.

This year, Curry is elated to report residents of Longboat donated a blistering $38,934.19. 

Consider the fact with Thanksgiving a bit later this year, it was a shorter season, which begins on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and runs through Christmas Eve. That's a span of 25 days compared to 29 in 2023.

Curry mentioned some of the kettles in those big cities can bring in as little as $150 for the season.

Mike McCullough, a bell-ringer and a member of Christ Church on the Key, knows firsthand of a hefty donation.

"I had a gentleman come up to me and say 'I'll donate this money as long as someone can match it,'" he said. "I looked at the check, and it was $10,000, so I said 'OK.'"

McCullough did report that Christ Church did match the donation.

Checks like that, from various businesses, are the reason St. Armands did lead the pack for the second consecutive year. Most of Longboat's donations came about the old-fashioned way, with passersby dropping some money into the kettles.

The outpouring of donations surprised Curry and his staff simply because of the tumultuous year Longboat Key faced with the hurricanes.

"We were really surprised at how many were giving," he said. "Being a veteran of many disasters, people have other necessities to take care of and get back in order or plenty of FEMA paperwork to do. So it's great to receive what we did."