Red Kettle History

​

In 1891, Salvation Army Captain Joseph McFee was distraught

because so many poor individuals in San Francisco were going hungry.

During the holiday season, he resolved to provide a

free Christmas dinner for the destitute and poverty-stricken.

He only had one major hurdle to overcome -- funding the project.

 

Where would the money come from, he wondered.

He lay awake nights, worrying, thinking, praying about how

he could find the funds to fulfill his commitment of

feeding 1,000 of the city's poorest individuals on Christmas Day.

As he pondered the issue, his thoughts drifted back to his

sailor days in Liverpool, England. He remembered how at

Stage Landing, where the boats came in, there was a large,

iron kettle called "Simpson's Pot" into which passers-by tossed

a coin or two to help the poor.

​

The next day Captain McFee placed a similar pot at the

Oakland Ferry Landing at the foot of Market Street.

Beside the pot, he placed a sign that read, "Keep the Pot Boiling."

He soon had the money to see that the needy people were

properly fed at Christmas.

​

Six years later, the kettle idea spread from the west coast

to the Boston area. That year, the combined effort nationwide

resulted in 150,000 Christmas dinners for the needy.

​

In 1901, kettle contributions in New York City provided funds

for the first mammoth sit-down dinner in Madison Square Garden,

a custom that continued for many years. Today in the U.S.,

The Salvation Army assists more than four-and-a-half million

people during the Thanksgiving and Christmas time periods.

 

Captain McFee's kettle idea launched a tradition that has

spread not only throughout the United States, but all

across the world. Kettles are now used in such distant lands as

Korea, Japan, Chile and many European countries.

Everywhere, public contributions to Salvation Army

kettles enable the organization to continue its year-round

efforts at helping those who would otherwise be forgotten.