INSTRUMENTS OF CHARITY

Salvation Army bell ringers appear each holiday season with such predictability that it's sometimes easy to walk by without really noticing them despite the continual clanging.

But it's hard to ignore Patricia Renshaw, perched on a folding chair in front of the Smith's at Elkhorn Road and Durango Drive, red collection kettle at the ready.

That's because instead of spending her eight-hour shift ringing the traditional bell, the 46-year-old Salvation Army temporary worker plays "Frosty the Snowman," "Let it Snow," and other popular Christmas songs on a well-worn accordion.

She thinks it gets people to drop more money into the kettle.

"People say, 'I'm only giving because you're playing music,'" Renshaw said between songs. "They say it's so much better than the bell."

It seemed to be working on Monday afternoon. Fifteen people stopped to drop money into Renshaw's kettle in a span of about 10 minutes.

"You're always so cheerful," said a well-dressed woman who tucked a thick fold of bills into the kettle. "We appreciate it."

A boy of about 4 studied the accordion as his father dropped into the kettle a handful of coins.

"I play the piano," the boy told Renshaw.

"The kids are the greatest," Renshaw said. "I can see them still looking at me way out into the parking lot."

Maj. William Raihl, the Salvation Army's Clark County coordinator, said many bell ringers get creative.

"You see people playing guitar, trumpets, keyboards," he said. "We have one person who plays a euphonium," a brass instrument that resembles a tuba.

Raihl believes such tactics increase donations.

"People get competitive with each other, trying to drum up support for their kettles."

He said 250 bell ringers have been dispatched this holiday season to grocery and big-box retail stores across the valley and in Pahrump and Mesquite. About 20 percent of them are volunteers, he said. The others are paid temporary workers who make about $7.50 an hour.

"It has become supplemental income to a lot of seniors or those who are earning unemployment," Raihl said. "It's a good time to pick up a few extra dollars. We have a lot of mothers who want to earn extra money for Christmas."

Renshaw said she will work six days each week through Christmas Eve collecting for the Salvation Army before she starts looking for a new full-time job. The self-taught accordionist and mother of three had been working at a discount retail store but could not make ends meet there.

Times are tight, she said. She recently had to move in with a friend to save money. She feels for the less fortunate for whom the charity collects money.

"I came really close myself this year."

Renshaw said she has worked for the Salvation Army each holiday season for 13 of the past 15 years.

Raihl said the local charity collects about $500,000 each holiday season for its Angel Tree and food basket programs.

It does background checks on all of its workers, and the kettles are locked "to add integrity, so donors know where those donations go," he said.

Contact reporter Lynnette Curtis at lcurtis@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0285.