Donor drops valuable gold coin in The Salvation Army’s kettle

For the third year in a row, The Salvation Army of Spokane found a gilded gift in a donation kettle. A donor today dropped a 2007 Gold Buffalo $50 gold coin wrapped in a $100 bill in bell ringer Ted Morris’ kettle at the Wandermere Fred Meyer, the same place the coins have been left in the past. The coin is valued at $1,607, according to a news release from The Salvation Army of Spokane. “My dream is one in every pot,” said Capt. Kyle Smith of The Salvation Army of Spokane, which still needs to raise about $40,000 to meets its goal. Gold coins and other valuables have been popping up in The Salvation Army’s red kettles around the nation. In Fort Meyers, Flo., an anonymous donor dropped a 1983 South African Krugerrand coin worth about $1,600 in one of kettles. Someone in Louisville left a 1907 U.S. Liberty $20 gold coin worth $1,500 in a kettle. And in Houston, a bell ringer discovered a diamond ring wrapped in a $20 bill with a note that read “I haven’t used this in over 7 years. Hope it does better for you than it did for me! God bless. He is the reason for the season.”