Miranda Pederson/Daily News Barby Morris of Butler County donates money during Saturday’s Salvation Army holiday bucket kickoff at the Warren County Courthouse.

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Maj. Ed Binnix is about to spend his first holiday season in Bowling Green - an important time of the year for the local leader of the The Salvation Army.

Binnix, 44, arrived in Bowling Green in June with his wife, Carla, as the new major, having transferred from the Northeast Section of the Nashville Area Command in Tennessee.

The son of parents who were both involved in The Salvation Army, Binnix has forged his own path within the organization, spending the past 15 years as an officer, including stops in Frankfort and Middlesboro as well as Houston, Atlanta and Jacksonville, Fla., and several other cities in Florida.

“I feel like the Bowling Green Salvation Army is a really active unit,” said Binnix, the father of two daughters. “They’ve got a lot going on here, and the (organization’s) advisory board wanted to make sure they had somebody with a decent level of energy ... come here and take care of this unit.”

Though he has spent several years in leadership roles at various Salvation Army units, Binnix said each experience offers its own challenges and rewards.

The Bowling Green unit has been strong financially compared to other units, he said, and he’s hoping to keep it fiscally sound and increase the church mission’s presence in the community.

“Our church needs some effort put into it. I’ve been told it’s been struggling over the last few years and really needs some emphasis,” Binnix said. “Our properties are in fairly good shape, though. The Salvation Army needs to keep our name out there and be in the community as much as possible, and we’ve got a really good advisory board that maintains good community relations.”

Joe Davis, president and CEO of Gerald Printing and a member of the local Salvation Army’s advisory board, said that Ed and Carla Binnix have made their presence felt in a good way in their first months in Bowling Green.

“I will say that we are very pleased to have Major Ed and Major Carla with us,” Davis said. “They are energetic and enthusiastic and we are very excited about the proactive approach they’re taking to the work they do.”

Most people feel the presence of The Salvation Army through the annual bell-ringing campaign during the Christmas season.

Binnix said that with pumpkins left over from Halloween still dotting some porches in the city, it seems early to think about starting the bell-ringing campaign, which helps raise money to support various Salvation Army programs.

Nonetheless, applications have been coming into the office, and The Salvation Army held a kickoff event Saturday after the annual Veterans Day Parade to let the public know that the organization is looking for volunteers to ring bells.

The first bell ringers will be out Friday and Saturday. Binnix said that tentative plans call for them to be placed outside two Kroger supermarkets and outside J.C. Penney at Greenwood Mall.

“We’re going to see where our weaknesses and strengths are, and then we’ll go hard at it on the 20th,” Binnix said, adding that ringers will be stationed at additional locations the weekend before Thanksgiving.

The goal for this season is to reduce the number of paid bell-ringers this season, with the local unit aiming to spend no more than $3,000 for paid ringers.

In recent years, the amount of money spent to pay ringers has been reduced from $18,000 to $6,000, Binnix said, and next year he looks to have an all-volunteer force and raise $100,000.

Jones said that the enthusiasm of the new leadership can be seen in their approach to The Salvation Army’s youth ministry.

“One of the things that they bring is that they’re very energetic about the youth ministry and the music ministry of the church,” Jones said. “We have a variety of youth programs that help serve the community, especially the community around the corps on Main Street.”

The Salvation Army unit has also accepted Angel Tree applications for the annual benefit in which the names of children from low-income families are placed on ornaments hanging from a Christmas tree in the mall; anyone can sponsor the children in the program and buy them a gift.

The warehouse for storing the gifts was secured Sunday, Binnix said, and the Angel Trees should be on display at the end of the week.

“I’m very impressed by The Salvation Army’s work here in Bowling Green and I’m amazed by how generous this community is,” Binnix said.