A familiar sound of the holiday season will come sooner this year.

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The Salvation Army's red kettle campaign began this week in some places in the United States.

The organization started early "in order to rescue Christmas," with Commissioner Kenneth G. Hodder, The Salvation Army’s national commander, saying in a statement:

“Our hope is to offset these challenges to meet the increasing demand for services across our nation.”

WIVB reports the Salvation Army estimates seeing 50% fewer funds coming from the red kettles, while "simultaneously serving 155% more people than it did in 2019."

Part of the reason for the decline in fundraising is because people generally carry less cash on them, do more online shopping, and coronavirus-related unemployments and store closures may further dampen fundraising efforts.

Last year the Salvation Army red kettle campaign raised $126 million.

This year's campaign will look a little different, because of measures taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus, with bell-ringers taking extra precautions according to WIVB.

If you would like to donate to a kettle digitally, you can make a donation online, by asking Alexa to donate or by texting KETTLE to 91999.

People may also donate through Love’s Army and the Angel Tree program, as well as donating physical gifts in bulk.

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