Although people are donating less spare change this holiday season, the Salvation Army is still receiving its usual array of strange contributions.  In Uniontown, PA, someone wordlessly proposed to the traditional collection kettle, dropping in a diamond engagement ring worth about $2,000.  No word as to whether or not the kettle is engaged, but the Salvation Army certainly kept the ring. 

In Fort Myers, Florida, a volunteer found a 1911 Liberty Eagle gold coin worth $1,000; in Berlin, VT, someone dropped a 1910 gold coin worth thousands of dollars; and in Kansas, a gold American Buffalo coin worth at least $1,000 was donated to one of the volunteer-manned kettles.  Every holiday season for the past seven years, someone has dropped a gold South African Krugerrand into a kettle in Iowa.

The Fort Myers 1911 Liberty Eagle coin has been donated each year for the past 3 years, wrapped in a plastic case and a note that reads: “In memory of Mimi”.  Dropping valuable coins anonymously has become more and more common as a way to remember a passed loved one, or to honor a memory.  Because all coins look more-or-less the same as they are dropped into the traditional red kettles, these unusual alms go unnoticed until the donations are counted out at the end of the day.

According to George Hood, national spokesman for the Salvation Army, donations like these are “…kind of fun, and it’s very helpful to the local units who are able to cash these things in and put the money into the chapter”.
 

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