Coins In The Kettle

The image is seared into the culture of Christmas like stockings hanging from the mantel piece or boughs of holly stretched along staircases.

A volunteer rings a bell and stands in front of a shiny red pot dangling from a tripod. Local residents will see it in front of the area's most popular stores every day until Christmas Eve except on Sundays.

On Friday, Lt. Samuel Kim, of the Salvation Army of Hernando County, celebrated the first day of the Christmas Kettle.

A man in a cane walked across the parking lot and dropped a bill into the pot.

"Thank you, sir," Kim said. "God bless you."

A ceremony complete with Christmas music from the Tampa Corps Ensemble took place in front of the Publix in Brooksville, located at the corner of U.S. 41 and Cortez Boulevard.

Guest speaker Duane Chichester, publisher of Hernando Today, called the Salvation Army's annual charity drive its "most famous street campaign."

He quoted theologian, philosopher and Nobel Prize winner Albert Schweitzer: "You must give some time to your fellow men. Even if it's a little thing, do something for others. Something for which you get no pay, but the privilege of doing it."

The kettle drive will continue in front of every Publix, Wal-Mart, Winn-Dixie and Walgreens in Hernando County.