Several weeks of winter weather not only led to canceled events and shipping delays, but fewer people heading to the stores and giving back to those in need.

Organizers with the Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign said they are behind in their donations this holiday season.

Charles DeJesus, the Soldier in Charge for the Salvation Army Erie Temple feels a sense of responsibility and honor to raise money for the Salvation Army every year.  "I've been playing for storefronts since 1997, you see this red kettle over here means a lot to me because it funded a free youth and music program at the Salvation Army when I was a kid."

DeJesus has seen firsthand what a few dollars can do to change someone's life. According to DeJesus, "What is typical, is us helping 18,000 people a year right here in Erie so when this money is raised here it definitely stays here and we help with things like food, utility assistance, various other things, we even do case management to bring people out of poverty and bring them up."

This year when customers were coming in an out of the stores at the Millcreek Mall, they were treated to beautiful Christmas music.

DeJesus wanted to bring some extra Christmas cheer to people as they were doing this holiday shopping.

The Thanksgiving weekend snow set the Salvation Army behind, so they are hoping they can catch up in time for Christmas.

"We are about $75,000 short about where we need to be and to put that in perspective it costs about $30,000 to feed the people that are signed up for Christmas food and toy assistance for just this season alone, so think about the rest of this year", explained DeJesus.

He hopes in the midst of the hustle and bustle, people will still remember to give back this time of year too.

The Red Kettles will be out until Christmas Eve. There are several ways people can help besides putting money in them. They can text Kettle to 31333, donate online at salarmy.us/eriekettle or sign up to be a bell ringer.