Salvation Army expanding reach with youth programs
Several kids will take part later this month in Calif. competition
Alexa Montijo danced through the chapel of the Salvation Army’s community center in Santa Fe.
She moved gracefully amid the chapel’s rows of chairs, fluttering her arms to the lyrics of a Christian pop song.
Alexa, 15, an active and devout member of the Salvation Army’s Christian church, sees her dancing as an extension of her faith.
“Dancers are like athletes of God,” she said Wednesday at the center.
“Every movement they do — and everything they do — is for God.”
In Alexa’s life, the Salvation Army serves as a kind of hub for worship, service and connection. She’ll perform a solo dance and, alongside other youth active in the church, a skit at a Salvation Army territorial competition in California this month.
She’s an active member of the church’s youth group. And she’s a regular at the Salvation Army’s Thanksgiving meal service, which provides a traditional holiday feast to people with nowhere else to go.
In 2022, she graduated from serving Thanksgiving meals to helping prepare the turkeys.
Though the organization remains a firmly established icon of the effort to care for the less fortunate — and the donation bins for unwanted or outgrown clothing aren’t going anywhere — new leadership in the Santa Fe Corps is turning its focus to the next generation, fostering young leaders like Alexa and offering them performing arts and fellowship programs.
The Salvation Army, originally a group of Christian missionaries, was established in 1865 in London by minister William Booth and his wife, Catherine.
Rather than preaching from a pulpit, Booth enlisted uniformed ministers as “officers” to walk the poverty-stricken streets of London and to evangelize to the forgotten people of society: the sick, hungry and poor.
The Salvation Army later expanded its mission beyond London, establishing a presence in the U.S. during the Great Depression and both world wars, providing food and lodging to those in need.
The Santa Fe Corps was established in 1940, said board Chairman Richard Mares, who began working with the organization in the 1960s.
When the organization laid ground in Santa Fe for the first time, “there were several needs,” Mares said.
These included housing, food service and other social service programs, “all of which were lacking at the time in Santa Fe a great amount,” he said.
Upon the establishment of the Santa Fe Corps, the city donated over $1 million to the organization to purchase and remodel the building they still occupy in the downtown area at 525 W. Alameda St.
Today, the community center is a mainstay for those in need to gather for local events aimed at easing some of the difficult circumstances of poverty and homelessness.
The organization hosts hot breakfast for homeless people from 8 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. Monday through Friday, After breakfast, people have the option to take a shower and are provided with toiletries, a towel, a washcloth and clothing, if it is available, said Lt. Ismael Gutierrez, who leads the site.
The southwest division of the Salvation Army, which encompasses all New Mexico locations, reported helping over 100,000 residents in 2022, who battle poverty, addiction and economic hardship, according to a news release.
While the organization has many programs aimed at mitigating the effects of issues like homelessness, the main role of the Salvation Army has been to help prevent the problem of poverty and destitution before it takes root, Gutierrez said.
When possible, it helps families with utility assistance through a collaboration with New Mexico Gas Co. and Public Service Company of New Mexico.
“The best way to combat homelessness is to help people from becoming homeless,” Gutierrez said.
But the community center isn’t just about serving the downtrodden. It’s also a place for youth like Alexa to sharpen their musical and performing arts skills and engage in fellowship.
Originally from Orange County, Calif., Gutierrez said he has a “a passion for youth and the arts, so marrying them together was a perfect combination” as he transitioned to Santa Fe, where he initiated a series of youth programs.
The organization now offers affordable after-school activities like music, dance and character-building classes for kids and teens.
The organization feels “the empowerment of youth is very vital to the success of a stronger community; therefore, we find it important to invest in them,” Gutierrez said.
The organization offers free piano and choir classes, a dance class for beginners and a “holistic” character-building class for kids ages 6-11, dedicated to providing a space to “allow them to learn new skills, make friends, have fun and develop spiritual discipline,” Gutierrez said.
For older kids, ages 12-18, the Salvation Army offers a youth fellowship time, when “teens have an opportunity to develop long-lasting relationships, learn new things and are allotted opportunities for character growth through participation and leadership,” Gutierrez said.
Several programs will take a break this summer, at least in June, he added.
Alexa, whose family has been involved in the local Salvation Army’s church since she was 2, said she’s enjoyed all of the activities and volunteer work she’s accessed through the organization.
“It does make a big part of my identity and the way some people see me,” Alexa said.
“A lot of people — like my auntie and my mom, of course, and the past pastors — have told me that I need to be like an example for the kids … so that they’ll look up to me and want to do the same thing.”
One of the biggest challenges preventing the Salvation Army from offering youth programs year-round is a lack of funding.
Prior to the 1990s, the organization received tens of thousands of dollars from the city of Santa Fe annually, along with other donations, Mares said.
When funding started dwindling in the 1990s, Mares said, “We started seeing more other organizations, ‘do-gooders,’ and it makes sense to me. All these other do-gooders that want to do good started asking for some of that same money.”
While funding has dropped for the Salvation Army, the number of people in need of its services are increasing, Mares said.
Mares, a real estate agent, acknowledged local housing costs are becoming unbearable, even for the middle class. The coming decades could see a pressing need for organizations like the Salvation Army.
“We have the knowledge and experience, but we don’t have the money to do more,” Mares said.