Familiar Hy-Vee bell ringer gets some celebrity help

David Perryman got some help from U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder and Mission Mayor Laura McConwell Friday.

To shoppers at the Mission Hy-Vee, David Perryman is a well known face. A couple of other well-known faces joined him Friday as he collected for the Salvation Army, his job year-round, not just at the holidays.

It has been 17 years that Perryman has been collecting at the Hy-Vee, the only bell ringer (he doesn’t actually ring any longer) allowed to collect indoors. Perryman stationed near Caribou Coffee on his motorized scooter and brandishing his perpetual smile is familiar to shoppers. This has been an exceptional month for Perryman, who appears on the cover of the current Mission magazine and recently had the city declare David Perryman Day in Mission in his honor. He set a record that day, collecting more than $3,600.

Perryman, 62, was diagnosed as a boy with a disorder causing contortions of the muscles. Originally not expected to live past his teen years, he has endured a series of operations, the last of which left him unable to speak.

He has held other jobs, but had to give them up when his condition made it difficult to walk and he went to work for the Salvation Army. He and his wife, Pam, live in Merriam.

Those other, perhaps less familiar, faces joining him in Hy-Vee were Congressman Kevin Yoder, ringing the bell and Mission Mayor Laura McConwell dropping by to make a contribution to Perryman’s collection bucket.