Salvation Army needs your volunteer service

DEAR EDITOR:

I am currently 75 years old and have been happily living in the Okanagan since 2008.

I first began noticing members of the Salvation Army as I grew up as a child in Calgary. Holding my grandmothers hand in the busy winter crowds, I saw them standing in their uniforms by their donation kettles, with they tambourines, in the freezing cold, outside the Hudsons Bay store on 8th Ave., the main business and shopping area of the time.

I hoped that they were warm enough. At a young age, I wondered why they were doing what they did. As a young man, I came to realize that their purpose was to serve God, through service to the poor and the needy, that part of society that most people happily ignore. I was and continue to be deeply impressed.

Although the Salvation Army symbol is widely known, easily recognized, and deeply respected, I am amazed to discover just how small the organization is. When I inquired this morning, ‘Alexa’ advised me that there are less than 40,000 in all of Canada, making up less than 1.5% of the total number of Christians, Canada wide.

I ask myself, “How is it that a group so small can have such a huge impact on service to the needy?”

They have been at it for awhile and began their work in London in 1865 when William Booth, a minister, took his message of hope to the poor, the homeless, the hungry and the destitute with a doctrine of “Soap, Soup and Salvation.”

I hope he would be pleased by the services being rendered by his beloved group in Penticton today.

In my role as chairperson for the Penticton Interfaith Committee (only recently started up in Penticton) I am saddened to note that the Salvation Army Penticton Thrift Store/ Family Services and Food Bank are struggling to get enough volunteers to help them render their critical needed service.

I write this in the hope of encouraging some of Pentictons citizens to find enhanced joy and meaning in their own lives by providing volunteer service to the thrift store and food bank so centrally located and much needed and used.

If you are feeling lonely or isolated or undervalued, providing volunteer service may be your avenue of relief for yourself, the friends you are yet to meet and those you serve.

You will be hearing from me again in September when we organize the Penticton Thanksgiving Food Drive to be held Sept. 24. to assist the Food Bank meet its growing demand for services.

Keep the Salvation Army Penticton in your hearts, thoughts and prayers. If you know of anyone with too little to do, too much time on their hands and too little connections with their community, please have them call Rose, volunteer coordinator at 250-492-6494 (ext. 201) of by email at Rosemarie.Cargill@salvationarmy.ca

I am not a member of The Salvation Army, nor have I ever been but a close family member was.

Having been haunted by alcoholism, failed marriages, periods of alcohol related incarceration and undiagnosed PTSD following his horrors in the Second World War, it was an experience with the Salvation Army at the Vancouver Harbour Light in 1969 that put him on a path of recovery, respect and reconciliation. A decorated war hero, suffering survivor guilt, he was able to rediscover his valour, value and love of life.

The service rendered by The Salvation Army was his vehicle of redemption; he is one of thousands.

Dan Kane, Chairperson

Penticton Interfaith committee