SILVER
BELLS
MAKE THE
Salvation Army
volunteers will
begin
ringing
November 16
By KAREN KOLIVOSKY
Photography JEFF TRUITT
If bells are ringing and change is jingling into red kettles, Christmas is getting closer. After almost a full year’s worth of preparation, this is showtime for the Salvation Army.
The holidays are when the Salvation Army is at its busiest and most visible in San Antonio, where it’s served for nearly 120 years.
From now through Dec. 25, the Salvation Army will rely on an army of volunteers to help make the holidays bright for needy families. Last year, the Army distributed more than 43,000 toys, delivered over 50,000 meals and served 1,000 Christmas Day dinners to San Antonians.
Bells will start ringing outside of about 100 department stores and other retailers on Nov. 16. The Salvation Army is hoping to collect $400,000 in the red kettles this season to help fight poverty and homelessness year-round, according to Capt. Mike Morton.
Morton, who oversees the kettle fund raising in San Antonio, sees a story behind every donation, from elderly veterans still grateful for the coffee and doughnuts that the Salvation Army gave them during World War II, to those who have been through hard times themselves and want to give something back.
Morton recalls one woman who stuffed a dollar into the kettle, telling him, “That’s for the toys last year.” Her husband had left her the Christmas before, and she was supporting her two boys on a $7.25-an-hour fast-food job. Her sons would not have had a Christmas had it not been for the Salvation Army. Now, she was able to give a little back.
“There are 1,500 people who walk through the doors of the Salvation Army in San Antonio every day seeking the things you and I take for granted — food, clothing, shelter,” Morton says. “That is what the kettles are going to go for.”
Every holiday program that the Salvation Army undertakes is designed to make sure that no child is forgotten, and also to let parents shine. Like many of its year-round services, the Christmas programs focus on strengthening the family unit.
At area malls, Christmas trees decorated with paper angels — part of the Army’s Angel Tree program — prompt shoppers to buy gifts for children who otherwise would go without. Parents receive unwrapped toys and gift paper to wrap and hide presents themselves, with their dignity intact, so their kids receive gifts from Mom and Dad instead of pre-wrapped presents from a charity.
Boxes of groceries, including turkeys and traditional trimmings, are provided to families so that they can cook their own holiday meals.
“The idea is for a family to be able to have a Christmas dinner in their own home rather than go to a soup kitchen or a massive feeding site, drawing attention and energy back to the family unit,” says Hugh Farr, director of administrative services for the Salvation Army in San Antonio.
When Christmas is over, the Salvation Army retreats from its high-profile holiday collections in bustling shopping centers and continues its work in the poorest neighborhoods in Bexar and Comal counties, helping those who need it most.
Tina Freeman and her three young sons know firsthand about the aid that the Salvation Army quietly offers year-round. Freeman, fleeing an abusive marriage, came to San Antonio to live without knowing anyone here.
She started her new life in the Salvation Army’s Emergency Women, Children’s and Family Shelter, where she and her boys stayed for nearly three months. Eventually Freeman qualified for the Army’s Scattered Sites program, in which families receive help with rent, food and furnishings for up to two years if they are committed to working and reaching educational goals, from earning GEDs to degrees.
Today, Freeman’s two-year contract is up, and she is packing to move so that someone else can take her place. Freeman has completed training as an aeronautics mechanic and is steadily employed. While she’s committed to supporting herself and her family, she knows that the Salvation Army is there if she ever needs it.
“They just make a difference,” Freeman says. “As long as you are in compliance with the rules and you truly want to do better for yourself and your family, they will help you.”
When it comes to helping San Antonio’s neediest citizens, there’s not much that the organization won’t do. Seniors come in for hot, nutritious meals and leave with full bags of groceries. Emergency shelters provide a safe, secure place to stay when there’s nowhere else to go. Apartments are provided for the elderly and disabled. Summer camps, after-school programs and a Boys and Girls Club give safety and opportunity to underprivileged children. When a family can’t pay rent or utilities, the Salvation Army even pays part of the bill when possible. Two dozen separate programs serve men, women and children year-round in San Antonio.
The emergency shelter for women and children is located downtown at the Hope Center, the main campus of the Salvation Army here. Tidy rows of neatly made beds, bunks and lockers fill the shelter’s main room. On one midweek morning, the shelter is so spotless it looks unoccupied.
However, Farr explains that 87 women and 29 children slept in the beds the night before. Following house rules, they cleaned and put away their possessions before they left the shelter in the morning.
The Army requires that clients follow its rules in order to receive assistance. In addition to observing curfews and performing chores, they must demonstrate the desire to improve their lives. This is one of the Army’s basic requirements.
The Army teaches clients basic life skills — to be self-sufficient, from computer skills to budgeting to parenting. One of the frustrations of the job is when clients choose not to follow rules or to abandon their case plans despite all the assistance and support that’s available to them.
“It’s incredibly frustrating. If they choose not to follow the program, we can only meet them halfway,” Farr says. However, if a client falls off the path but wants to try it again, the doors are always open.
“This is the organization of second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth chances,” Farr says.
When Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf Coast, sending 25,000 evacuees to San Antonio, the Salvation Army’s disaster relief component kicked in. On one occasion, the Salvation Army’s cafeteria produced 10,000 sandwiches in three hours to help the Red Cross feed an incoming wave of evacuees.
The Army’s disaster relief services have helped more than 1,500 families start new lives here. While most evacuee families are now settled into homes, jobs and schools, disaster caseworkers are on staff at the Salvation Army through July 2007 to help those still struggling and to make sure relocated families stay on the track to self-sufficiency.
Pastoral care — the opportunity to meet with a minister — is another way that the Salvation Army helped hurricane victims. Spiritual guidance is at the heart of the Salvation Army’s mission and is available to, though not forced on, all of those served.
“It helps us to have a more complete program. If it’s something that can benefit a client, there’s a chapel on campus open 24-7,” Farr says. Affiliated with the Christian faith, the Salvation Army is modeled after Jesus Christ’s care for the most downtrodden in society. In many cases, clients welcome the inclusion of spirituality.
“More often than not, when people are in crisis, they do feel like they need a little spiritual counseling,” Farr says. “Sometimes they want prayer on their behalf, sometimes just someone to talk to.”
The Salvation Army blends Christian faith with a military structure, complete with uniforms and ranks, led by ordained officers who are also ministers. The tradition started shortly after the Salvation Army’s beginnings in 1865, when London minister William Booth left the pulpit to work in the streets among the city’s most destitute with his wife, Catherine. Today, the Army works in more than 109 countries.
In San Antonio, Major W. Ernest Steadham is area commander, and his wife, Capt. Darlene Steadham, serves as coordinator of women’s ministries. Every three to five years, new officers are stationed in San Antonio, allowing experience and leadership to circulate throughout the organization, as employees of all faiths provide ongoing support at each area headquarters.
With a staff of 95 and an ambitious list of programs, volunteers are precious. For example, in September, more than 200 volunteers from area businesses, schools and service organizations spent a Saturday distributing brand-new shoes to 1,175 children from low-income families as part of the Salvation Army’s 24th annual “Shoe-In Program.”
During the 2005 holidays, nearly 500 volunteers gave their time to help the Salvation Army carry out its mission. “We live and die by volunteers,” Farr says. “The time, talent and treasure of volunteers and donors are hugely important to us in getting accomplished what we need to do each and every day.”
To volunteer or make a donation to the Salvation Army in Bexar and Comal counties, call (210) 352-2000 or visit online at www.salvationarmysatx.org.
