TIMONIUM, Md. — Tis the giving season, and most people want to give, but not everyone has spare change or small bills for that matter.
Bell ringers in Canada started allowing people to use credit cards in recent years, and their donations jumped by 40 percent, prompting the Salvation Army of Central Maryland to launch its own pilot program this year.
“You hold up your smart phone, either your Apple Pay or your Google Pay or you hold up your pay way enabled credit card and it will donate based on the one you hold it up to,” said Capt. Matthew Tidman, “Our different TipTap locations---we have 10 all over Central Maryland. They will take either a $5 donation, $10 donation or a $20 donation and it is streamlined, super easy to use.”
For all of the various services that the Salvation Army provides, all of the money raised on Giving Tuesday, November 29th, will go to a very special cause.
That money will go to combat human trafficking through the organization’s Catherine’s Cottage service---housing and services provided exclusively for adult victims of the sex trade industry.
“We take people who have been victims of human trafficking, and we work on providing them the life skills---the needs that they have that need to be met in order for them to get out of that lifestyle and back into a productive and healthy lifestyle,” said Tidman.
It is yet another way your loose change, cash and now credit card can help make a difference.
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The electronic payments also are theft-proof.
Just today, someone attempted to steal a red kettle at the same Walmart on Liberty Road, which experienced a similar theft last year, but this time, the Salvation Army reports police were able to nab the Grinch at a nearby store where he had fled to, and they were able to recover the donations.
To learn more about the Salvation Army and their initiatives, click here.
