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Coos Bay Salvation Army honors volunteer Verena Matthews with its Lifetime Service Award after almost 50 years of giving.
It was November 1987—bellringing season in The Salvation Army—and Verena Matthews was frustrated.
She’d been a bellringer for the Coos Bay (Oregon) Salvation Army since the 1970s with her service organization, Zonta Club, but her group had never claimed the coveted “Salvation Army Kettle Cowbell” award, presented annually in Coos Bay to the service club collecting the most money the Saturday before Christmas.
No women’s service organization ever had.
But it all changed that year when Matthews was Zonta Club president.
“That’s when my big mouth got me in trouble,” she said. “I got tired of hearing that it was the men who did this and the men who did that. I was ready to give them some competition.”
Matthews challenged the men to a kettle competition, which the local newspaper promoted on the front page featuring her photo. Well-known in town for her civic activities, Matthews had her reputation to uphold. She knew she needed to pull out all the stops to top the men’s groups.
“Everywhere I went, people would say, ‘We’re going to support you because you had the guts to challenge them,’” she said. “I really sweated that challenge. But I loved it because it made us all work harder.”
She approached a recently opened Fred Meyer department store and got permission for Zonta to place kettles at all three of its doors. And she got her club members fired up.
“Everybody was in a happy mood,” she said. “We played music. Sometimes we brought our children and sometimes our pets. We smiled and opened the door for people, really made them notice us and want to give.”
It was a winning strategy, and Zonta claimed the cowbell that year—at that time the best Red Kettle Campaign Coos Bay had ever had.
Of the $25,000 raised by all service organizations that year, Zonta raised more than $6,000.
“The town is incredibly generous and supportive of its community,” said Coos Bay Corps Officer Major Erin Kauffman. “We don’t make huge numbers, but when you figure that with roughly 20,000 people in town [in 2024] and we make $60,000—that’s $3 a person.”
She recalled her time in a larger city of 800,000 people, where the kettle total was $400,000—the average per capita donation was 50 cents.
“She has provided hope for the community for almost 50 years.”
Rodger Craddock, Coos Bay Advisory Board Chairman
Since that turning point year, the Zonta Club, spurred by Matthews’ enthusiasm, has consistently raised the most cash in its kettles of any service group, although Kiwanis occasionally edged them out of the top spot with larger checks.
Matthews said a highlight was when the corps officer would call her after the campaign to tell her how many more families The Salvation Army could help because of the money raised.
“At our next [Zonta Club] meeting, I would brag on it,” she said. “I think it gave such a wonderful feeling to all of us that we helped that much…Plus we got the Bell!”
This year, at age 93, Matthews will serve as Kettle Ambassador at the Coos Bay Kettle Kick Off.
“God gave me a lot of extra energy,” Matthews said. “I’ve been using it.”
She said she always remembers something her father told her.
“My dad told me, ‘Babe, the world has to be a better place because you lived.’” she said. “That’s why I’ve always tried to be involved in good things—to help the community, to help schools, to help children. It’s just in me.”
This spring, the Coos Bay Salvation Army honored Matthews’ years as a bellringer, presenting her with its first Lifetime Service Award during its Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon.
“She has provided hope for the community for almost 50 years,” said Coos Bay Advisory Board Chairman Rodger Craddock as he presented the award. “With her leadership, the Zonta Club has raised over $150,000—providing hope for our after-school program, providing hope through the Hope Market [client-choice food pantry], providing hope to people who just need hope to make it through another day.”
For Kauffman, Matthews embodies hope.
“One thing she shared with me is that hope is like a hug to the heart, and that just sharing that hope through bellringing and wishing people a merry Christmas—that little spark of hope can build a whole community of hope,” Kauffman said. “That’s what she’s been doing for all these years.”
Looking back, Matthews recalled times when she would take multiple two-hour kettle shifts in one day.
“I did it because I love it and I love the people and the season,” she said, “and giving.”
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