Created: 11/19/2009 8:50:41 AM 
Raleigh, NC -- North Carolina shoppers without the spare cash to drop into Salvation Army kettles can charge their good will this holiday season. The red kettles appearing outside Raleigh-area stores Thursday include four equipped with credit card readers to take electronic donations. The News & Observer of Raleigh reported that The Salvation Army's Wake County chapter joins a handful across the country experimenting with plastic. Chapters in Colorado, Texas and Wisconsin last year said they were responding to shoppers who increasingly carry only plastic. Salvation Army administrators credited the cashless kettles as one reason their annual holiday donation campaign set a record of $130 million last year despite the recession.
Associated Press
