Juggling and the Fine Art of Fundraising

"The weather hit us pretty hard, preventing us from having bell-ringers out there," Hood says. "When you can't be visible, can't be out there in the street, especially on a weekend — one of the snow storms was a Friday and Saturday, which are typically very productive days — that had us nervous.

"We were thinking we were going to have to report a decline for a while. But in the tend, it's always fascinating that on those last few days you get closer to Christmas, the volume of giving that comes in to the red kettles [increases dramatically]," he adds.