The Christmas coffers of Vicksburg’s Salvation Army are heavier today after kettles outside Walmart were manned for 10 days by volunteers from Anderson-Tully Lumber Co., which then added a hefty chunk to the amount their employees raised.

Capt. Srikant Bhatnagar, head of the local Salvation Army office, said $18,818.42 was dropped into the red kettles during the days Anderson-Tully workers rang the bells.

The company is going to add $8,000, said Anderson-Tully president Richard Wilkerson, who with his wife and two sons, 8 and 12, took shifts ringing the bells.

“They got a big kick out of ringing the bell, and they bring in more money than either my wife or I can do,” he said of the boys. “Mostly it’s people going in or exiting the store. They’ll reach in and get whatever they have and drop it in the kettle. It gets kind of contagious.”