The Austin Salvation Army’s Red Kettle Campaign came within a hair’s breadth of reaching its 2018 goal of $192,000.

But Capt. David Amick will take that total, gladly. The final number is $189,749.19.

In a season when many cities did not come close to their goals, he said he is extremely proud of Austin and the effort.

“It was a superb year,” he said, adding that making a roughly $3,000 adjustment to the annual budget will be relatively painless. The campaign proceeds are used exclusively for operations and the many services the Salvation Army provides throughout the year.

He applauded the staff, volunteers and community for its commitment to the Christmas effort.

“It came from across-the-board,” he said. “It was a huge, huge success this year,” he said.

He was astonished at the turn-out at the kettles, both from volunteers and the community.

“We had an 84 percent volunteerism at the kettles,” he said. “That is phenomenal.”

It is a common practice to “fill in” shifts at the kettles with paid bell ringers; this year, that number was low, he said.

“We had a ton of people come out (to ring bells),” he said. “We just send out a great big thank you to everybody, all our volunteers, and community. We couldn’t have done it without them.”