Captain Michele Harms with the organization says right now they are at $84-thousand dollars, which puts them ahead of last year at this time when they were at about $70-thousand.  Harms says, "I think that people are being a lot more generous this year. We also have multiple more spots than we had last year where more stores in Rapid City are becoming more generous of letting us stand outside and letting us bell ring and just spread the cheeriness throughout the season at their locations. The community is really coming together and really pulling and understanding what the true spirit of Christmas is and helping those in need in the community."   Harms says whenever they count a 50 or 100 dollar bill, they do a little dance.

Tessa Thomas