Bill Porter likes to talk.
It’s a good thing, since he spends about seven hours a day chatting with strangers as a bell-ringer for the Brackenridge Salvation Army Red Kettle campaign. He sets up outside Giant Eagle at The Waterworks five days a week and says he revels in making connections.
“I meet so many people,” said Porter, 65, of Harrison. “It’s one of my favorite things to do every year.”
Porter is a crucial part of the Salvation Army plan, according to Captain Selah Bender.
“He has raised almost $100,000 over the last five years,” she said. “He stands every hour all week.”
His volunteerism helps with an otherwise unreliable set of circumstances, Bender said.
In recent years, for example, the Salvation Army has lost several bell-ringing locations across the Alle-Kiski Valley, including Big Lots and Community Market — both in Heights Plaza — and Walmart at The Waterworks.
Porter said he has never retrieved any surprise donations like rare coins or vintage jewelry in his kettles, but he relishes the stories told to him almost daily.
“I had someone tell me how their great grandparents were in a concentration camp, and when they came to the U.S. they had no place to stay and the Salvation Army helped them,” Porter said. “A lot of veterans tell me they like the Salvation Army because during World War II, the group gave chocolate and coffee to the soldiers and never charged them.”
Nationally, the Salvation Army fundraiser helps support programs that include food banks and holiday gift giveaways. The campaign runs mid-November through Christmas Eve.
In Brackenridge, the agency set a goal of $95,000 to pay for the weekly community lunch, the basketball league, the volleyball league and weekly fitness workouts, as well as Bible studies, worship services and a back-to-school bash.
A Highlands School District alum, Porter graduated with degrees in business and history from Westminster College. Shortly after, he took over the A-1 Rental store in Tarentum that his dad founded in 1962.
“I like being part of the community,” Porter said.
He’s also a member of the Highlands Area Rotary Club and American Legion Post 226 in Brackenridge.
“These groups all do a lot for people,” Porter said.
Most recently, he fundraised with the Legion and Rotary to donate a Trackchair for a paralyzed vet. The $16,000 all-terrain equipment enables people in wheelchairs to more easily access the beach, woods or other rough ground. Through the Salvation Army, Porter said, he gets to help families that need help providing food, clothes or other staples.
Porter said the kettle campaign helps restore his faith in people. Even through a turbulent economy and rising costs across the board, people have been generous, he said.
“Sometimes it’s freezing and people are going through their own tough time, but they stop and drop something in,” he said. “It’s nice to see people care.”
Kettles are situated this year outside Walmart stores in Harrison and Pittsburgh Mills, Sam’s Club at Pittsburgh Mills, Giant Eagle Express in Harmar and Giant Eagle at The Waterworks.
People can donate in person or online at salarmy.us/AVKettle.
Through the years, Porter has become involved in other activities at the Salvation Army. He enjoys the Christmas toy giveaway, where the building’s gym is filled from one end to the other for families to choose from. The nonprofit also gave away 300 turkeys this month for holiday dinners.
“They help a lot of people, and I feel it’s a way I can serve,” Porter said.
“I just feel the Lord reaches out and puts you in the right place at the right time. Helping others makes me feel good.”