A Story from the Past

A long note recently came in with a Salvation Army supporter's donation, and it touched me so deeply, I asked him if I could share it:

Dear Salvation Army,

In 1943 my dad was discharged from the United States Navy. He had four children (including me) and was unemployed. We lived with my mom's sisters and grandfather in Winona, MN. I was about 3 years old then. He went to other organizations for help--financial assistance, food and clothing, whatever help he could find. All he received was a voucher for 2 gallons of milk with a blanket. Then he went to The Salvation Army and received food vouchers (enough to eat on for a week), $5 cash, clothing for us kids and a nice used new suit with a list of possible employers that might hire him.

He told me this story with great respect for The Salvation Army, and I never forgot it. That is why my contributions to The Salvation Army are consistent each time you send me a reminder in the mail.

I live on social-security and find myself maxed-out at the end of the month. But if I could save my contributions for myself, what would I do with them? No amount of money can buy me health, peace of mind, or the feeling that in some small way I can be a part of sharing my life with others who have less than me.

~John M.

What a beautiful cycle this is to see, those who already have so little giving to help those who have even less, because those before them were helped in the same way.

Right Place at the Right Time

I received an amazing phone call from a Salvation Army supporter today. This couple consistently sends us encouraging notes along with their donations every time they donate, and in early September I wrote them a card to thank them for all of the encouragement they have given us and invited them to tour a facility. She called me this morning and we were able to talk for about 45 minutes. She told me that yesterday she and her husband were at Northwestern Bookstore and there was a woman in front of them in line who was flustered because she was running late and was going to miss her bus. They ended up giving this woman a ride, and when they got in the car she told them that she was on her way to The Salvation Army Harbor Light Shelter in Minneapolis, where she lives. On the car ride, this woman told them all about how both of her parents were drug-addicted and died young, how she was homeless and how The Salvation Army saved her life. She told them that there is no way that she could have gotten her life back on track without the help of The Salvation Army. This couple was overwhelmed by the young woman's testimony and how dedicated she is to the Lord now. The donor said that she just had to call me and be a witness as to how we are working in people's lives. She told me that they pray for us everyday, and that they can't imagine what this world would be like without us. What a blessing!

A New Viewpoint

Monday I had the opportunity to speak about The Salvation Army to a group of 30 teenagers at a transitional living program, along with about 15 of their teachers. Even though I spoke for a whole 45 minutes, the students miraculously stayed focused the whole time! They asked so many great questions and even guessed correctly that The Salvation Army was started "back in the 1800s" (1865 to be exact).

The next day, the students and teachers joined me at our Salvation Army facility on West 7th in St. Paul, St. Paul Citadel Worship and Community center, for a tour to see first-hand what I had talked about in their classroom. We saw kids playing soccer in the gym, seniors playing card games in the cafeteria, people taking bread off of the free bread cart in the entry-way, and so much more.

While we were standing in the gym, listening to the Child Development Center Director talk about the kids who were at that time running wildly around the gym, one of the teenagers on the tour leaned over to me and whispered sarcastically, "Hey, those homeless people look a lot like kids to me." My confused look prompted her to continue: "I thought we came here to see homeless people, not some day care." This gave me a great opportunity to talk to her about why giving these kids a place to come kick a soccer ball around a gym can be life-changing to both the kids and their families. Without a safe place for their children to go, many parents can't keep their jobs or even try to get a job in the first place. Without the after-school program and the emphasis on literacy in the Child Development center, many of these kids might fail out of school, and that might take away the chance for them to provide for their own families some day. Without a place to go during the day or after school, who knows what danger they might be in or the wrong crowds they could fall into.

I gently told the girl, "If you want to see poverty, come back here any day of the week around 7:00am and you'll see 200-300 people coming here to get breakfast, which might be the only meal they eat all day. But if these kids aren't given an equal chance to be helped, in 10 years they might be the ones coming through the line for breakfast. Do you understand why it's all important?"

Her eyes filled with tears, and all she could say was, "I had no idea."

I saw myself in this girl because I was about her age when I had the same eye-opening experience (incidentally, mine also occurred while witnessing a Salvation Army youth program for the first time), and realized that the need is so much greater than I had ever recognized. What a privilege it is to not only expand people's ideas of who needs help in the world and here in the Twin Cities, but to also spread hope that The Salvation Army is working hard to eradicate that need from all angles.