While red kettle bells don’t sound in the summer, the Salvation Army still needs donations.

For the third year, the Salvation Army will push carts through the Fourth of July parade to collect donations of non-perishable food items and personal care items.

About six volunteers with carts will walk alongside the Salvation Army truck. When the carts get full, they will be loaded into the truck.

Volunteer Special Event Coordinator Kris Maier said there’s always a donation need.

“It goes in spurts, some days we’re putting through 50 families, other days, 25 families,” she said.

Case manager Lori Espe said the summer season can be a time of need for families too because kids are out of school.

“There was a point we were assisting 450 households,” Espe said. “Now we’re just under 400 households.”

The Salvation Army helped 368 families last June, 384 last July and 478 last August.

Espe said the numbers vary so much because they don’t know who’s going to approach them needing food for the month. Once this year, the number was over 400 and it stayed that way for a while.

“A normal food order will help them get by for four days, [as] kind of an emergency type thing,” Espe said.

This year is also the 120th anniversary of the Salvation Army in Austin. A banner displayed on both sides of the truck will list the Salvation Army’s services.