MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) — The Salvation Army received a big boost in its efforts to help people in need thanks to a donor who dropped a $10,000 check into a bell ringer's kettle in Menlo Park.

A manager for the Salvation Army's Redwood City Corps. says the check was slipped into a kettle outside a grocery store sometime Friday.

Bonnie Miller told the Palo Alto Daily News that the donation — a record for the Redwood City branch — comes after a check for $5,000 was placed in a kettle outside a grocery store in Redwood City just three days earlier.

Miller says before the two big donations this week the single largest donation at any of the branch's kettles was $1,000.

(Copyright 2011 The Associated Press)