• HolidayGiving-cm-122024,ph1
    Rosie Palamara rings the bell outside the Storrs Street Market Basket on Thursday morning, December 19, 2024. Palamara knows firsthand those in need, as she faced a childhood in which her mother struggled after her father died.
  • HolidayGiving-cm-122024,ph2
    Rosie Palamara and Dawn France talk about their shared histories after she put in a donation at the Storrs Street Market on Thursday, December 19, 2024. Palamara has been ringing bells for the Salvation Army around the Holidays for 11 years.
  • HolidayGiving-cm-122024,ph3
    Rosie Palamara watches as Dawn France puts in a donation at the Storrs Street Market on Thursday, December 19, 2024. Palamara has been ringing bells for the Salvation Army around the Holidays for 11 years.
  • HolidayGiving-cm-122024,ph4
    Rosie Palamara rings the bell outside the Storrs Street Market Basket on Thursday morning, December 19, 2024. Palamara knows firsthand those in need, as she faced a childhood in which her mother struggled after her father died.
  • HolidayGiving-cm-122024,ph5
    Rosie Palamara rings the bell outside the Storrs Street Market Basket on Thursday morning, December 19, 2024. Palamara knows firsthand those in need, as she faced a childhood in which her mother struggled after her father died.
  • HolidayGiving-cm-122024,ph6
    Rosie Palamara and Dawn France talk after she put in a donation at the Storrs Street Market on Thursday, December 19, 2024. Palamara has been ringing bells for the Salvation Army around the Holidays for 11 years.

Rosie Palamara has been ringing bells for the Salvation Army around the Holidays for 11 years.

She knows first-hand the difference that charitable giving can make: her father died when she was young, and her mother leaned on churches and food banks for help as she raised three children.

“I know what it’s like, you know?” said Palamara, a member of the Salvation Army church in Concord, over the chime of the bell in her hand outside the Storrs Street Market Basket on Thursday. “I love doing it, it’s sort of like giving back.”

The Salvation Army’s “red kettles” are a regular sight around the holidays. Funds raised through the kettles go towards supporting the Salvation Army’s regular operations including, in Concord, its McKenna House shelter.

The year’s fundraising goal was $60,000.

As Dawn France tucked a donation into Palamara’s kettle, the two discussed shared pasts.

“I’ve been in situations myself, and I know how it is,” France said. “I’ve struggled, I’ve been there… and so if I can help a little bit, I’m gonna help a little bit.”

While the Salvation Army’s telltale Red Kettles are stationed outside of retail stores around the Concord area, they are just one way that people can contribute to others this holiday season.

Other places to donate around the holiday season include the New Hampshire Food Bank — which has a donation match initiative through the end of the year — or local food pantries, the Friends of Forgotten Children, Toys for Tots — though its gift-giving campaign for this Christmas has closed — and others.

Almost every non-profit has a way to donate online and support their efforts to help others in the community.

The Salvation Army has been serving the Concord community since 1891, the same year the Red Kettle campaign began in San Francisco.

Catherine McLaughlin can be reached at cmclaughlin@cmonitor.com. You can follow her on X @cat_mclaugh and subscribe to her newsletter The City Beat at concordmonitor.com.

Catherine McLaughlin is a reporter covering the city of Concord for the Concord Monitor. She can be reached at cmclaughlin@cmonitor.com. You can subscribe to her newsletter, the City Beat, at concordmonitor.com.