How Salvation Army's red kettles became a Christmas tradition

Drew Angerer/Getty Images The Salvation Army's red kettles, staffed by people in Santa suits, are a common sight around Christmastime. William Booth, an English evangelist,founded the Salvation Armyin 1878 as a religious outreach to London’s poor, and it soon spread to New York and Philadelphia in the US. By 1891, Salvationists had outposts in San Francisco, where Joseph McFee was eager to serve a Christmas feast for a thousand of the city’s poorest residents. He decided to improvise, Grabbi...