Ditka at helm of Salvation Army's Christmas drive

More than 3,000 Salvation Army bell-ringers and 1,000 red kettles will roll out across Chicago and the suburbs Friday morning.

And Mike Ditka will be at the helm.

The Super Bowl-winning football coach and local icon has been named the honorary chairman of the charity's 2015 Christmas campaign, which has a goal of raising of $17 million.

Ditka stopped by his Oakbrook Terrace restaurant Thursday morning, where he was preparing to broadcast his weekly radio show, to kick things off.

"The Salvation Army's been around for a long, long time (150 years) and its unbelievable what they do," Ditka said. "They help everyone. If you have a need, they're there to help you. I think that's the most important thing."

During last year's holiday season, The Salvation Army's local branch raised $15 million and served more than 105,000 people, distributing more than 16,000 food baskets, 42,000 articles of clothing and 131,000 toys.

"I know people say, 'There's a lot of charities out there,' but we're not asking for a lot," said Ditka, who remembers seeing the kettles as a child and asking his parents about them. "You walk past a red kettle and you've got a couple dollars or you've got loose change, put it in there. It's gonna go for a good cause. It's gonna help people, and that's all we can do."

Kjell Steinsland, the Army's secretary of business, said he expects about $2.5 million of the $17 million goal will come from the kettle donations.

"We, like other nonprofit agencies, are finding it more difficult to maintain sufficient funding for all of the programs we provide," Steinsland said. "The Salvation Army is not in the business of turning off the lights. We are in the business of creating hope and light to the world. We work every day to stretch our resources as far as possible so we can keep the lights on."

The red kettles will be on the streets through Dec. 24. For those wishing to volunteer as bell ringers, The Salvation Army has launched the Register To Ring program that makes it easier to choose the locations, dates and times.

The Christmas campaign will continue online at www.onlineredkettle.org through Jan. 31, where donors can host their own online red kettle. In addition, donations may be made by texting ChicagoKettle to the number 71777.

Yet another way to donate is by buying a toy or gift for a child in need through the new virtual Angel Tree program at chicagometro.theangelgivingtree.org.