By Mariel S. Clark
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MIDTOWN — Don't have any spare change? No problem, some Manhattan Salvation Army bell ringers now take plastic.
The charity rolled out a handheld credit card reader at Grand Central Terminal Friday morning, in the hopes that it would be easier for people to donate.
"Were' in a society where people aren't carrying as much cash on them as they did in the past," said Denise Richardson of the Salvation Army's Greater New York Division. "We live in the world of plastic."
The group will test the card readers in one or two Manhattan locations this season.
Outside Grand Central, only four people had donated via credit card in eight hours, but most gave more than the average $2 bucket donation.
"We had a $10, and then a $20 and then one person gave $50," said Libaniel Urbina, a Salvation Army Captain.
Urbina, who has been ringing the bell for nine years, said the new card readers are great for New Yorkers.
"People are always shopping, always carrying credit cards," he said. "It's a very good option."
An option not everyone will use.
"Money is easy but credit cards leave a trail," said Shawn Lyden, who dropped a few dollars into a bucket near Rockefeller Center.
Lyden said he was leery of handing out credit card information on the street and added jokingly, "Besides then my wife would know how much I've donated."
The Salvation Army estimates they will have already collected $1.5 million in the greater New York area by the end of the day Friday.
Some of that money came from Lower East Side resident Penelope Selling, who dropped a five-dollar bill into the red kettle outside Grand Central. Selling, a former Salvation Army volunteer bell ringer, thinks the credit card option is a good idea but she probably won't use it.
"I kind of like to give to the buckets," she said. "They're the tradition."
