Sunday, November 7, 2010

 Longest Solo Handbell Marathon - Captain Ken Chapman sets world record
 JACKSON, Miss., USA--Captain Ken Chapman,area Coordinator Corps Officer for The Salvation Army of Metro Jackson, rang the bell for 30 hours, five minutes and 50 seconds - setting the new world record for the Longest Solo Handbell Marathon .

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Chapman's arms are sore and he has ringing in his ears but he endured it all to reach red kettle campaign volunteers.

   Captain Chapman said, "we need to fill 16,872 hours in 36 days between November 15th and Christmas Eve. That will take about 1,200 families, businesses or different groups to man kettles for us each day."

 Salvation Army officials said the organization had to pay people to ring bells at its Red Kettle locations at an annual cost of more than $65,000.

Register at www.salvationarmyjackson.org to volunteer to be a bell ringer. The program begins Nov. 15 and runs through Dec. 24 with a goal of raising $350,000.

The previous Guinness World Record for the longest continuous time an individual has played the handbells was 28 hr 50 min 21 sec, set by Joe Defries (Canada) .

   The Guinness World Records guidelines for the Longest Solo Handbell Marathon were as follows:
   - One 15-minute break is allowed for each 8-hour period;
   - No music piece can be repeated within any 4-hour period;
    - Each piece must be a published piece, to be played for a minimum of 2 minutes;
    - A maximum of 30 seconds is allowed after each piece for setup of the next piece.

The Salvation Army , an evangelical part of the universal Christian church established in London in 1865, has been supporting those in need in His name without discrimination for 129 years in the United States.
     Nearly 30 million Americans receive assistance from The Salvation Army each year through the broadest array of social services that range from providing food for the hungry, relief for disaster victims, assistance for the disabled, outreach to the elderly and ill, clothing and shelter to the homeless and opportunities for underprivileged children.
     82 cents of every dollar spent is used to support those services in 5,000 communities nationwide.

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