Don LaBarge shared some thoughts following the last day of the 2021 Salvation Army Bell-Ringing Season for Mesa West Rotary:
Well it was an interesting 29 days, I am anticipating good income.
Anyhow, being I said that Christmas Eve was a fun day to ring, here is the rest of the story'
True to the prediction, it was raining when I awoke on Friday Morning, and it was still raining at 12 Noon. Jim & Laura McGown were up first from 10am-12 . Jim & the Bass Pro Shop employees set up the canopy for us and I had supplied the sandbags in case of wind. Up 12 Noon to 2pm was Jeanie, and around 1pm I noticed that it was raining very hard so I thought I would drive over to Bass Pro and see how Jeanie was doing and thinking I probably should shut down.
I found Jeanie under the canopy and she said she was fine, and after she said she wanted to stay I went back home, My shift was 4pm-6pm, so I arrived at 3:45 pm to Dan & Colleen ringing and it had stopped raining. In fact Dan was ringing outside of the canopy' All was well.
I took over and all was fine until 5:20pm. I looked up to the North and this series of dark ugly black clouds appeared, what seemed like out of nowhere, was directly coming towards the Bass Pro shop, and then suddenly it started pouring and very high wind. It blew the top of the canopy off and twisted the metal frame around, I grabbed one of the frames because it seemed the wind was going to knock me down, some shoppers in the pouring rain ran to help me, and reported it to bass Pro shop employees. About 5 employees ran out in the rain, by this time our stuff was blown everywhere, the kettles and stand blew over along with the candy dish and my chairs. One of the managers brought me inside the sliding doors, while the employees were out there getting soaked.
The employees could not figure out how to dismantle the frame and a girl employee ran outside and showed them. She told me later that she used to work in the Canopy department.
It all happened for about 10 minutes.
The employees got the canopy under control and brought what was left of it inside the sliding doors and they helped me pick up the mess.
Using a shopping cart I loaded everything in my truck and left. It was 6pm. My shift was over.
Next year I will say to the Christmas Eve ringers "It could be fun."
Note from your editor:
When Don came by to see if I wanted to shut down the kettle station because of the rain, and I told him I wanted to stay, he made an adjustment in the way the station was set up. He moved the kettle stand closer to the edge of the canopy so it would be convenient for people to drop their change in the kettle on their way past it. He had observed that most people were rushing through the rain to get to their vehicles. After Don left, one man stopped to put some bills in the kettle. As he was trying to fold them small enough to fit through the slot, his generosity was rewarded by a stream of water pouring off the canopy and down his neck. I moved the stand back to the middle where it had been.
Jeanie