Couple Drops $500,000 Donation into Salvation Army Kettle in Minnesota

A couple with a history of giving big donations to the Salvation Army topped their past donations by dropping a check for $500,000 into a Red Kettle station in Minnesota, the organization reports.

According to the Salvation Army, the $500,000 check was dropped into a Red Kettle outside a Cub Foods store in Rosemount, Minnesota, a near southern suburb of Minneapolis.

Spokesmen for the charitable organization say that the check has already cleared, but the donors wish to remain unidentified in public.

“We have been in touch with the donors, but they want to remain anonymous. This couple has supported the Army before with large checks in kettles, but never anything close to this level,” Salvation Army spokeswoman Julie Borgen said.

The donation was the largest single donation ever given to the Salvation Army in the Twin Cities area. In fact, Borgen noted that she was not aware of any larger donation ever dropped into a red kettle anywhere in the country. The organization says that the red kettles typically bring in about $30 an hour during the holiday season.

The anonymous couple told the Salvation Army that they were inspired by the work done by the group and also said that they struggled when they were young and hoped to prevent want for others.

“You get to a point in life where it’s time to take care of others, the way you were taken care of,” the couple said via a statement issued by the Salvation Army.

The organization is also lauding the actions of a donor dubbed “St. Grand” who has for the last several years dropped in $1,100 each in a series of red kettles during the holidays. So far this year, “St. Grand” has donated $4,400 in four different drops across the Minneapolis area.

The Twin Cities Salvation Army has brought in an estimated $2.2 million thus far this year.

Salvation Army spokeswoman Annette Bauer said that the $500,000 gift was “astonishing” and helped bridge a half-million-dollar gap over what had been raised by this time last year.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com