It’s that time of year again where volunteers dress liked Santa and elves ring a bell outside busy shopping centers to raise money for the Salvation Army.

On Saturday, several volunteers dressed as Star Wars characters took their turn ringing bells at both Jefferson City Wal-mart.

“They figure if characters are willing to come out here dressed up, they’re putting a lot of extra effort into the charity,” said Chris Adams, with the Star Wars 501st Legion, who dressed as Darth Vader. “So they might donate just a little bit extra money than they normally would.”

This is the third year the Star Wars characters volunteered to help ring the bells. The money raised goes to help the Salvation Army’s Red Kettle campaign.

Read full article here:
Darth Vader helps ring Salvation Army bells

Darth Vader might like to end board meetings with a Force choke or two, so when he cares about something enough he’s bound to spill some blood, even if it’s his own. Luckily, in this case it was all for a good cause.

Adam Lochowicz and 10 other 501st Legion members of the Red Back Squad in Queensland dressed as Darth Vader, stormtroopers, a sand trooper and other evil characters from Star Wars to give blood at the Robina blood bank.

Northern Star reports:

Lochowicz said he gave a regular blood donation at the Southport blood bank recently and asked if he could bring some storm trooper friends to the Robina bank for a mass donation.

“There were 11 walk-in donations because we were there so it turned out well,” he said. “It would be good to have a national day where all storm troopers in Australia went out in force and donated blood on the same day.”

Read the full article here:
Troopers storm blood bank (via Northernstar.com.au)

Learn more about the Terror Australis Garrison.

The 501st Legion’s Noel Green (TK-8541) is very close to winning the top spot in the Chick-fil-A Cow Appreciation Day contest on Facebook!

In true Star Wars fan fashion, Noel has pledged to donate the potential grand prize (a year’s worth of meals) to his local food bank in New Mexico, but he can’t do it without the support of fellow Star Wars fans everywhere.

DAILY VOTES are now critical with voting ending in just a few days on August 31st!

Once per day, go to the following link, then click ‘Vote’ and then click ‘Highest Rated’ and you’ll see the black and white Cow Trooper among the top contestants!