T H R O U G H
I N T E R D E P E N D E N C E ,
W E
C R E AT E
VA L U E
TREES HEAT Making use of downed trees for good
SOUL MUSIC Which songs do you most connect with? A P U B L I C AT I O N O F T H E S A LVAT I O N A R M Y
VOL. 22, NO. 04 | WINTER 2016/2017
BETTER TOGETHER Ordinary people, extraordinary science Citizen scientists expand our horizons.
Home Depot partners for vets Volunteers transform housing facilities. 1
Global alliance How the creation care movement is bringing interfaith groups together. C A RING
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CONTENTS BETTER TOGETHER | WINTER 2016/17
Vol. 2, No. 02
22
EDUCATION
Ordinary people, extraordinary science How citizen scientists expand our horizons. | BY CAITLIN JOHNSTON
12 4
EDITOR’S NOTE
6
NEWSBITES
26 GOVERNMENT
Trees turn to heat
The City of Coos Bay and The Salvation Army make use of downed trees together.
7 INSPIRATION | BY DANIELLE STRICKLAND, MAJOR 8
19
30 ARTS
INTERVIEW
Share and share alike
New research into the sharing economy illustrates how companies can best serve the underserved.
Music of the soul
Which songs connect with the deepest part of your being? | BY MATT WOODS
| BY MINDY FARABEE
34 TECHNOLOGY
12 INSPIRATION
Home Depot partners for vets Projects transform Salvation Army veteran housing facilities.
From all angles
Collaboration addresses immediate legal needs and the underlying causes. | BY JACKELINE LUNA
| BY CHRISTIN THIEME
37 RELIGION
16 INITIATIVE
Recycling project drives textiles to family stores
Program boosts family store income and builds awareness human trafficking. | BY SARA KILEY WATSON
40 BUSINESS
19 FIRST PERSON
Authentic influence
It is only through our interdependence with others that we create value.
Drafted
| BY KEVIN CASHMAN
| BY SARA JOHNSON
44 GOOD MEDIA
A community embraces a reluctant champion.
34
How the creation care movement is bringing interfaith groups together.
| BY MINDY FARABEE
Global alliance
46 GOOD STUFF
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“It’s better to have a partner than go it alone. Share the work, share the wealth. And if one falls down, the other helps.”
EDITOR’S NOTE
WE KNOW
—ECCLESIASTES 4: 9 (MSG)
that you want to make a positive impact on your world.
Who doesn’t? We all want to grow into the best version of ourselves. To grow in generosity. To grow in peace. To grow in leadership. To grow in joy. To grow spiritually. We know that you don’t just want to do something, you want to be something—to be a better human. Caring is a magazine dedicated to infusing good into our everyday lives. Reading good, shopping good, doing good and being good. We are a magazine centered around what it means to design and live the “good” life. We focus on building community, creating intimate relationships and happy and healthy kids, inspiring projects and programs, and generating a generous spirit. We share true tales of beautiful human beings doing amazing things, because it inspires us to be who we know we can be. It inspires us to rise. In a world filled with chaos and feeds inundated with news and opinion, Caring dives deep to offer stories about real issues with tangible actions that you can take to leave the world better than when you found it. So join the tribe: A people Caring about being good and doing good.
E D ITOR IN CH IE F Christin (Davis) Thieme F OUN D IN G E D ITOR Robert Docter, Ph.D. M AN AGIN G E D ITOR Jared McKiernan SE N IOR E D ITOR
Karen Gleason
E D ITOR IAL ASSISTAN T Laurie Bullock ART D IR E CTOR Kevin Dobruck GR AP H IC D E SIGN E R Carol Martinez D IGITAL STR ATE GY D IR E CTOR Shannon Forrey D IGITAL CON TE N T COOR D IN AT O R Nicole Bouschet OP E R ATION S M AN AGE R Anne Ducey CIR CUL ATION AID E Leigh Manlove
Caring (ISSN 2164-5922) is published quarterly by The Salvation Army USA Western Territory, led by Territorial Commander Commissioner James Knaggs and Chief Secretary Colonel Doug Riley. Send letters to the editor to caring@usw.salvationarmy.org. Subscription prices $15 U.S., $18 Canada and Mexico, $20 other international per year. Subscribe at caringmagazine.org. Subscriber services contact 562-491-8343, caring@usw.
CHRISTIN THIEME is the Editor in Chief of New
salvationarmy.org, or Caring Magazine, PO Box 22646, Long
Frontier Publications.
Beach, CA 90802.
Connect with Christin
Advertising inquires contact 562-491-8343 or
website caringmagazine.org
caring@usw.salvationarmy.org.
facebook caringmagazine twitter @caringmagazine
Article proposals or reprints contact
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caring@usw.salvationarmy.org.
TURN GOOD THOUGHTS INTO GOOD ACTIONS VISIT CARINGMAGAZINE.ORG SUBSCRIBE / GET HELP / VOLUNTEER / FIND WORSHIP / GIVE
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GOVERNMENT ENDS USE OF PRIVATE PRISONS
POVERTY DECLINES Highlights from the latest Census Bureau report, Income and Poverty in the United States: 2015:
The Justice Department announced an end to its use of private prisons after officials concluded the facilities are both less safe and less effective
NEWSBITES
$56,516 median household income, up 5.2 percent from 2014 and the first annual increase in median household income since 2007.
at providing correctional services than those run by the government. However, The Washington Post notes that the vast majority of U.S. prisoners are housed in state prisons, rather than federal ones. This directive applies to the 13 privately run facilities, housing a little more than
13.5 percent poverty rate, down 1.2 percentage points from 2014. 43.1 million people in poverty, down 3.5 million from 2014.
22,000 inmates, in the federal Bureau of Prisons system.
BOOKS LIVE ON A Pew Research Center survey finds that the share of Americans who read a book in the last 12 months (73 percent) has remained largely unchanged since 2012.
Of those readers:
65%
read a print book
28%
read an e-book
14%
listened to an audiobook
TRAVEL DOLLARS DRIVING SOCIAL CHANGE As a multi-trillion-dollar industry, travel and tourism has become one of the biggest players in the global economy, and according to a 2015 study conducted by the market research company Phocuswright, almost three quarters of travelers reported a desire for their contributions to make a positive impact on the places they visit. Enter Kind Traveler, a new platform that hopes to enable just that. Travelers who book through the company select from a range of 12 global charities—and numerous local ones—they can donate to in exchange for discounts on hotel stays. Together, these organizations tackle 10 causes, including disaster relief, education, wildlife and the arts. Having The Salvation Army come on board was particularly gratifying, says Kind Traveler CEO Jessica Blotter. Both Blotter and her partner Sean Krejci have personal connections with the Army—for nearly a decade, Krejci’s parents have served as holiday bell ringers, while Blotter’s grandmother was a longtime loyal donor. But more than that, they felt the Army was a perfect match for the kind of far-reaching social change they hope can be driven by the industry. “The Salvation Army works on so many different human levels and covers so many human needs,” Blotter said. “It was a way to address a lot of things with one organization, which was very appealing to us.” CARING CARING WINTER WINTER 2016/2 10 716/17
IMPLICIT BIAS HITS PRESCHOOL New research from the Yale Child Study Center finds that many preschool teachers look for disruptive behavior in one place, waiting for it to appear. It argues that because of implicit bias—the often unconscious stereotypes that guide our expectations and interactions with people—teachers are spending too much time watching African-American boys and expecting trouble. At an annual conference for preschool teachers, lead researcher Walter Gilliam and his team asked teachers to watch a few short videos and press a key every time they saw behavior that could become a challenge. Each video included four children (a black boy and girl and a white boy and girl), and none exhibited challenging behavior. As the teachers watched, eye-scan technology measured their gaze to see who the teacher watched when expecting bad behavior. “What we found was exactly what we expected based on the rates at which children are expelled from preschool programs,” Gilliam told NPR. “Teachers looked more at the black children than the white children, and they looked specifically more at the AfricanAmerican boy.” According to recent data from the U.S. Department of Education, black children are 3.6 times more likely to be suspended from preschool than white children. 6
INTENTIONAL LIVING in being fully present. A few things have helped. I’ve been experimenting with an app, Headspace, that teaches mindfulness as a daily practice. It’s been useful in my prayer life. On top of that I recently read a book called “Present Over Perfect” by a friend, Shauna Neiqhiest, who found herself caught in an important, busy life. She writes that she was constantly catching up—yet always feeling behind. I resonated with the feeling. I’m sure you do as well. Our world functions at a fast pace. Keeping up is a difficult reality. The book spoke of her discovery of the true price of that kind of living, and it explored some of what motivated her to keep living that way. It was riveting. She completely changed the way she lived after edging the cliff of self-destruction. One of the keys to this new found living was exposing the “more” lie. You know the one. The idea that everything has to keep increasing. Your workout at the gym needs to be harder, your family needs to grow, your house should expand, your work should keep increasing, you need more money for more stuff, for more…you get the idea. The “more” lie is a trap that keeps us looking more like hamsters than humans. So how do you get off the hamster wheel? Here are a few ideas: 1. Take time to evaluate your life. Is this the one you had hoped for? Are you proud of what you have become? This is an important exercise to do with deep honesty. The question is not about what other people think, need or say. It’s not about what makes your parents proud or your spouse feel safe. It’s not about what you have accumulated. Those things are important, but they come in the next step of the journey. Are you proud of who you are right now? 2. If the answer is yes, then celebrate your life. Make gratitude a daily practice. And congratulations. This is not easy to do. If the answer is no, then begin thinking, praying, dreaming and listing the things you wish were in your life. The things that give your life meaning and joy. Don’t just add things that look good or feel good to other people, or something that makes someone else content. Make a list of things that really bring you great joy.
3. Now, start thinking about that list. How much of it is possible for you to start living now? And this is the important part. What can you cut out to make room? Actually, as I’ve seen people do this part of the exercise, the list is almost always about cutting and rarely about adding. People say, I can work less. I can do with less money if it means I can spend more time with my family. I can help those kids at the shelter once a week, if I work from home on that day. See, no one really says a big fat “yes” to what they really want without learning to say an emphatic “no” to what they don’t. When my son turned 13 he went on a “coming of age” trip with his father. We made a list of adult attributes that he wanted to grow into—hard-working, compassionate, responsible, creative, loving and spiritual. We made the list together, but my son determined who he wanted to be and the kind of man he wanted to grow into. The trip wasn’t super exotic but it was intentional. He interviewed friends and family members who exhibited those traits and asked them for tips on how to cultivate those things in his own life. It was significant. He went from being a boy to becoming a man. That’s what teenage years are for—ask almost any culture but our own. In Australia, aboriginal young boys go on a “walkabout” to discover themselves and their own abilities to survive. In Africa, young men often go on quests and have challenges to overcome. In Jewish culture, there is the bar mitzvah, a celebration with family and friend of the season of manhood beginning. In our culture, teenage years are often wasted on video games, irresponsibility and pleasures turned into a frenzy for more. It’s a wasted season, with no time for intentional cultivation of the things that really matter. It seems like we continue the way we start, letting the culture define us. But what if we took the time now? What if we sat down and made a list of who we wanted to become? We could have our coming of age party. Late perhaps, but still here. It is never too late to be the people we aspire to be.
MAJOR DANIELLE STRICKLAND is the Social
Justice Secretary in The Salvation Army USA Western Territory. Connect with Danielle website daniellestrickland.com twitter @djstrickland
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INFLUENCE
I’VE been discovering the deep peace that is found
$
$ CAR ING CARING
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HARE AND
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COMPANIES CAN BETTER SERVE THE UNDERSERVED. BY MINDY FA RA BEE
easy to see ridesharing companies Lyft or Uber as a savvy business traveler alternative to renting a car or simply as a convenient ride to the airport, but research shows that it’s actually low-income communities— where residents often don’t own cars at all—that have the most to gain by the advent of the sharing economy. Despite that, a study released earlier this year by the Pew Research Center found that only 10 percent of households living on $30,000 or less had ever made use of these services and 50 percent had never even heard of them. A new report by Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), an international nonprofit consulting and research firm, lays out several steps these companies can take to drive up awareness and break down barriers of access faced by low-income and underserved communities. From weeding human bias out of algorithms to expediting the process of applying for food stamps, a growing emphasis on inclusive innovation is helping the sharing economy live up to its truly transformative potential. Michaela Lee, an associate at BSR and co-author of the report, shared more about the findings, such as the benefits of human-centric design, the crucial role of investors and the economic boons of sustainability. Below is an edited excerpt of the conversation.
IT'S
C A R I N G : T H E S H A R I N G E C O N O M Y I S O S T E N S I B LY DESIGNED TO CREATE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC BENEFIT. BUT AMONG LOW-INCOME COMMUNITIES, THERE IS A P E RC E P TION TH AT ITS BENEFIT S ARE NOT BEING WIDELY SHARED. IS THAT AN ACCURATE PERCEPTION?
9
ML: It’s definitely true that folks that are higher income are more likely to be using sharing economy services even when low-income and underserved populations are the ones who could benefit the most from those products and services. And it seems so far they have not been able to take full advantage of those opportunities. There are a couple of times in the report when we mentioned a Pew Research study in which they found that Americans with incomes over $100,000 are three times more likely to use multiple sharing economy services than those earning less than $30,000. So when you think about all of the barriers that lower-income or underserved populations might face to accessing those services, I think it’s clear that there’s a lot of opportunities for companies to tap into that market. AT O N E P O I N T, A N I N T E R V I E W E E I N B S R ’ S R E P O R T N O T E S T H AT A N E M P H A S I S O N W E A LT H I E R I N D I V I D U A L S H A S R E S U LT E D I N N U M E R O U S S E R V I C E S G E A R E D T O W A R D “ W A N T S R AT H E R THAN NEEDS.” HOW MIGHT A CONCEPTUAL SHIFT TOWARD FOCUSING ON NEEDS OVER WANTS TRANSFORM THE SHARING ECONOMY?
I think it’s a little bit less needs versus wants and more about making sure products and services are designed with different communities in mind. So the needs and wants of San Franciscans are quite different from neighborhood to neighborhood, and they are definitely different from needs and wants of residents of Oakland or residents of Los Angeles. So in our report we emphasize the importance of fostering inclusive innovation or taking a human-centric design
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INTERVIEW
NEW RESEARCH INTO THE SHARING ECONOMY ILLUSTRATES HOW
approach. And sometimes creating products to be inclusive of different communities requires a diverse workforce or partnerships with stakeholders and organizations that reach into different communities. W H AT E X A C T LY I S H U M A N - C E N T R I C D E S I G N ?
It’s the idea that you start with the end user in mind, and you think about both what they want to be accessing or what products they might need and also the different challenges they might face in accessing those products. Right now I think that is becoming more common among, not just sharing economy companies, but companies in other sectors as well. Who you chose as your end user, right, totally changes how the products are designed. So if you’re looking at end users that are primarily higher income, have easy access to technology, and are well educated, that might be a very different product than one that you would create with an end user who is lower income and might have more issues of access or issues of finance. If they don’t have a credit card, maybe they aren’t English speaking, things of those nature. Once a product or service is already created then you can iterate on that based on different needs of the end user, so an example would be Uber piloting different ways for their deaf or mute or otherwise handicapped riders to use their platform. But then there are some times where you absolutely can design a product that looks and feels different and answers a different question for a different set of users. So, for example, maybe a company looks at an end user population that doesn’t have access to a smartphone. Then you might need an actual building for people to come and exchange goods, which looks very different from having a mobile app where people can do it virtually.
PA R T N E R S H I P S A N D C O L L A B O R AT I O N A R E AT T H E V E R Y H E A R T O F T H E S H A R I N G E C O N O M Y, B U T T H E REPORT IDENTIFIES SEVERAL AREAS—BETWEEN THESE C O M PA N I E S A N D G O V E R N M E N T, T H E I R C O U N T E R PA RT S I N T H E T R A D I T I O N A L E C O N O M Y, A N D E A C H O T H E R — W H E R E O P P O R T U N I T I E S F O R P R O F O U N D C O L L A B O R AT I O N S A R E GOING UNDERUTILIZED. IF THESE DIFFERENT TYPES OF C O L L A B O R AT I O N TA K E O F F, W O U L D W E S E E S O M E T H I N G T R A N S F O R M AT I V E ?
INCLUSIVE INNOVATION SHIFTS THE
A L O N G T H OSE L INE S, I WAS STRUC K BY A S TAT IS T IC I N T H E R E P O R T T H AT O N LY 2 5 P E R C E N T O F L O WAND MIDDLE-INCOME JOBS ARE ACCESSIBLE BY P U B L I C T R A N S I T. W H AT A R E S O M E I N N O V AT I V E
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EMPHASIS TO CREATING SUSTAINABLE
APPROACHES YOU’VE SEEN TO ADDRESS THIS?
AND AFFORDABLE ACCESS TO GOODS
There’s all sorts of ways to approach an issue like commute. In terms of what we’ve seen, it could be ridesharing and transit authorities working together to plan how to reach people who don’t have access to public transit. Or bike sharing could also be a good way to address first mile and last mile challenges—people who are one or two miles from public transportation and just need to get over that initial hurdle of getting to a subway station or getting to the bus stop. Or it could be that employees use co-working spaces for part of the week, instead of having a long commute into their office space. But I think the point is that this kind of innovation is happening already and more of it could be harnessed to help the population that could most benefit from them.
AND SERVICES FOR LOW-INCOME AND
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UNDERSERVED POPULATIONS.
Oh absolutely. You can see that a little bit now with some of the partnerships that have popped up. Lyft and Starbucks, for example, teamed up to get Starbucks employees to and from work in the early morning when public transit is less frequent or often doesn’t run at all. And you see examples of a lot of the bigger auto manufacturers trying to partner or acquire or work with and provide funding for ridesharing or on-demand ride companies. I think that where the sharing economy companies and more traditional companies
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“THE GREAT THING ABOUT THE SHARING ECONOMY IS THAT IT CAN HELP DEVELOP HIGHER LEVELS OF SOCIAL TRUST. IT PROMOTES A SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND INCLUSIVITY.”
overlap is a really interesting space. To this point there has been some partnerships that we’ve seen, but there’s opportunities for a lot more.
your neighbor enough to share your goods with them or you trust your Uber driver enough to take a ride. And some have claimed or said that it’s the social mistrust that is the main barrier for why low-income populations aren’t using the sharing economy more. Personally, I think there are other factors that are greater barriers—access, awareness, things like that. Affordability. But trust is definitely part of the conversation. And I think the great thing about the sharing economy is that it can help develop those of levels of trust as well. It promotes a sense of community. It promotes a sense of inclusivity and helping out a neighbor, helping out someone in your community. So the hope is it would promote greater trust between users. The issue is that trust is a difficult thing to measure. But I think that trust is definitely something that you see come out of communities that share more. And that trust is generated through the connections that are built through something like a ridesharing or goods sharing platform.
W H AT R O L E D O I N V E S T O R S P L AY I N C R E AT I N G A M O R E INCLUSIVE SHARING ECONOMY?
Investors are crucial. They are typically the driving motivators behind a lot of these young companies, and a lot of times they’re incentivizing short term growth and not looking at longer term social and economic value. It’s not an easy group or audience to engage, because sometimes they are not seen as stakeholders of these companies, but they really are. And they are really important stakeholders to make sure are aligned with a lot of the inclusive growth models that these companies are considering. Morgan Stanley’s Institute for Sustainable Investing has done a lot of really great research on the topic. And they found that investing in sustainability usually meets or exceeds performance of traditional investment. And there’s more and more research and literature about both impact investing and sustainable growth investing, as well as looking at companies and making investment decisions based on certain factors, such as do they have a diverse workforce or are they prioritizing inclusive innovation. [This research is] helping to change the persistent belief that sustainable investments underperform, when that’s not necessarily the case.space. G E N E R A L LY S P E A K I N G , L O W - I N C O M E C O M M U N I T I E S R E P O R T G R E AT E R L E V E L S O F S O C I A L M I S T R U S T. C A N T H E
MINDY FARABEE is a writer based in New York City. She previously
S H A R I N G E C O N O M Y M E A N I N G F U L LY A D D R E S S T H I S ?
worked as an editor for New Frontier Publications.
That’s an issue that came up quite a bit in our research, because the idea of the sharing economy is based on trust. Ideally, you trust
Connect with Mindy twitter @mindyfarabee
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INSPIRATION
TEAM DEPOT VOLUNTEERS TRANSFORM SALVATION ARMY VETERAN HOUSING FACILITIES.
THE Home Depot Foundation is partnering with
Team Depot, The Home Depot’s associate-led volunteer force, kicked off its annual Celebration of Service campaign this fall at The Salvation Army Bell Shelter, one of the largest homeless shelters west of the Mississippi that sleeps more than 350 residents a night in Bell, Calif. Roughly 11 percent—or 39,500 individuals—of the adult homeless population in the U.S. are veterans, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. “We consider it a duty and honor to give back to our veterans,” said The Home Depot Foundation board
The Salvation Army in the Western Territory to transform veteran housing facilities with over $400,000 in financial contributions and in-kind materials. “Corporate partners bring far more to the table than just dollars,” said Maria Todaro, Territorial Corporate Relations Manager, who has overseen the developing partnership. “When The Home Depot brings in associates for engagement projects, they get to see firsthand what The Salvation Army is doing in their local communities.”
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Ronnie Wald, an 81-year-old veteran resident of The Salvation Army Bell Shelter, talks with a Team Depot volunteer during a transformation of the shelter this fall. Photos by John Docter.
memberband chair Giles Bowman in a statement. “We know they experience many challenges when they return from service and their home shouldn’t be one of them.” The Bell Shelter received new interior paint, renovation to onsite modular homes, upgrades in the auditorium and a new shade structure, picnic tables and gardening benches in the community garden. A new bike rack has space for 50 bikes. “I was a part of a person when I came here. Nothing to go on,” shelter resident Ronnie Wald, an 81-year-old U.S. Army veteran told KABC in an interview. “They put me together, and I'm going to be stronger than I ever was when I leave here.” State officials, including Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, helped start the day of volunteer service that culminated in a closing ceremony with the 70 volunteers. “The only reason that we can do what we do is that people help us. Today, you’ve helped us give ‘Heart to
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God, Hand to Man,’” said Southern California Divisional Commander Lt. Colonel Kyle Smith to the volunteers. “In all the little things you’ve done today, you’ve become like the hands of God. You’ve shown kindness to others, and you didn’t have to do it.” Nearby, at The Haven, a 265-bed shelter and addiction rehabilitation program, Team Depot revitalized the dining room and renovated living space for four additional clients. It transformed an outdoor
VIDEO See inside The Haven in a video by SAVN.tv at salar.my/thehaven
“We know they experience many challenges when they return from service and their home shouldn’t be one of them.”
—GILES BOWMAN
area and renovated an unused space as a job training lab and clothing store for veterans transitioning into the workforce. In Las Vegas, Team Depot is renovating a 42-client facility. In addition, The Home Depot Foundation
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Team Depot volunteers gave The Salvation Army Bell Shelter, which sleeps more than 350 people a night, a facelift as part of an ongoing partnership.
recently granted The Salvation Army funding to complete wall and floor repairs and asbestos abatement at The Haven and Hope Harbor, a 50-client facility in Los Angeles. “I want to help. Just like in my job, I help people who want to get something done,” said Dale Truskowski, a Team Depot member and millworks department supervisor at the Cerritos Home Depot in Southern California, who helped revitalize the Bell Shelter. “Often people who come in to the store may have a general idea for something, but they are not sure how to get it done. This is an expanded version of that.” This fall, Team Depot volunteers transformed more than 1,000 homes for veterans across the country. In addition to Team Depot’s efforts, The Home Depot Foundation pledged to grow its commitment to veteran-related causes to $250 million by 2020.
THE SALVATION ARMY IN THE U.S.:
Serves hundreds of thousands of veterans across 7,700 centers of operation.
Operates 29 housing programs that reserve 25 percent or more of the beds for veterans.
Runs 93 programs and facilities specifi-
CHRISTIN THIEME is the Editor in Chief of New
Frontier Publications.
cally for veterans, including 52 that are
Connect with Christin
residential.
website caringmagazine.org facebook caringmagazine twitter @caringmagazine email christin.thieme@usw.salvationarmy.org
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RECYCLING PROJECT DRIVES TEXTILES TO FAMILY STORES B Y SAR A K ILE Y WATSON
Program boosts family store income and builds awareness of other Salvation Army programs. RESPONDING to increased competition on the national textiles donation landscape, Allen Chan, Salvation Army National Advisory Board member, championed a new pilot program in Wake County, N.C. “The thrift store business in general—whether we are competing with consignment stores or outlets—has grown tremendously,” Chan said. “Our thinking was, while we have done well, we haven't necessarily gotten our fair share of the market.” The program, created in partnership with WasteZero, targets high net worth households with a mailing package containing a Salvation Army branded textile bag and a call to action for recipients to donate their used clothing and soft goods to The Salvation Army. As a test this summer, 20,500 mailers were sent to
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Wake County households with a minimum average family income of $81,000. Within a month, Family Store Manager Harold Clyburn observed an increase in donations of around 10 percent. Many donors, he said, come into the store after dropping off their bags to “find something for themselves.” He confirmed that the program has boosted the store’s income. “We greenlighted this program, whereby we are asking people of means to donate right now—today,” said Major Pete Costas, who led The Salvation Army in Wake County when the program rolled out. He now serves as Area Commander in Greenville, S.C. “We present mailer recipients with a compelling reason to give, selling not only the thrift store, but all the other services that The Salvation Army renders to the community.”
WHILE AMERICANS RECYCLE INITIATIVE
P
U ND
E
65% OF THEIR ALUMINUM CANS
85%
IN LANDFILLS
OF THEIR USED TEXTILES
SOURCE: WasteZero
WasteZero, a Raleigh (N.C.)-based certified B Corp, or benefit corporation, with a charter to cut trash in half in America, implemented the direct mail program. While the company’s core business is bag-based municipal pay-as-you-throw programs, it also works with nonprofits such as The Salvation Army, Keep America Beautiful and the Boy Scouts of America to assist cleanup and litter prevention programs and to divert textiles from landfills. The bags manufactured by WasteZero in the U.S. also use 50 percent recycled content, adding another dimension of eco-friendliness. “When I joined WasteZero, I was shocked to learn that 85 percent of used clothing ends up in the landfill,” said Wanda Urbanska, the company’s director of nonprofit and philanthropic partnerships. “That compares unfavorably to the recycling rate for aluminum cans in America, which is 65 percent. Our partnership with the Army has been a wonderful thing in that we are boosting revenue streams for the life-saving work of the Army while diverting valuable textiles from the landfill.” This direct mail program is now being implemented around the country, among other locations in Janesville, Wis., in conjunction with a new store opening, and in Houma, La., to drive business and donations to an underperforming store. In each location, WasteZero works with the local Salvation
Army on the creative piece and handles all logistics, including stuffing and mailing the packages. Wake County Advisory Board member Lisa Rivers, head of the thrift store committee, created the card’s messaging, emphasizing the scope and impact of Salvation Army services with statistics including how many meals are served locally and how many women and children are clothed and sheltered every night. Some card recipients were surprised to learn that the Wake County Salvation Army works to “rescue and assist more than 250 victims of human trafficking” through Project FIGHT. “The information on the card made me want to give,” one donor said.
20,500 mailers sent to households with incomes averaging $81,000 increased donations by 10 percent. “Many of our Salvation Army store locations are not necessarily well known,” said Chan, who also heads the Robertson Scholars Leadership Program, a joint program at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and Duke University. And because the mailing targets high-income donors, “it greatly increases the chance of getting high-quality goods into those stores,” he said. In order to get out the information—not only to donors but
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to other Salvation Army stores around the country—WasteZero filmed an informational video that outlines the program’s steps and effectiveness in Wake County, and developed a template for partnering with businesses for in-house drives. “I am absolutely sure [the direct mail program] can be replicated,” Chan said. “The Salvation Army is unique in that we have actual operations and have things that we do in every zip code in the nation. As a consequence, there are many highdensity urban areas where this pilot, or this program, should be very applicable.” SARA KILEY WATSON is a former intern at WasteZero and a
student in the environmental studies program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Connect with Sara
Donor unloading her WasteZero bags at the Wake County Salvation Army.
twitter @skileyy
Photo by Asher Smith-Rose.
“Working with WasteZero increased our donations by 10%.” Harold Clyburn, Manager, Salvation Army Family Store, Raleigh, NC
Are you looking for high-impact programs to drive textiles donations to your ARC and Family Stores? WasteZero provides turn-key programs to increase your donations for existing stores or for when you launch new stores: • Precision mailings • School programs • Church drives • Business campaigns • Donor “Thank You” gifts
For information, contact Wanda Urbanska at wurbanska@wastezero.com or call
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FIRST PERSON
A community embraces a reluctant champion.
B Y S A R A JO H N S O N
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Faithfully practicing these postures has opened the hen I accepted God’s invitation to join his door for some surprising friendships and opportunities. work in St. Louis in 2013, I wasn’t sure what to I think of Gramma Dodo, the hardened woman living expect. I knew I’d be leading a neighborhoodnext door, who has softened over time, or Ronald, the based ministry for The Salvation Army, and young man who tried to be brave and pet my dog, but that I’d be joining a community of young adults. In my mind, I ran away screaming when Winston “kissed” him. thought this would be a pretty straightforward two-year stint, But the most surprising by far was the opportunity to run and then I’d head back to friends and family in Detroit. for public office. God’s plan was much more involved. Last spring, a local resident approached me with an odd Since arriving in St. Louis, I’ve worked closely with Major idea—you should run for committeewoman, he said, referring Gail Aho to build the Urban Mission Center, where we work to a position in our city government that works closely with to develop missional leaders. Under the umbrella of the Urban city council representatives, called aldermen here, on public Mission Center is Temple Houses, a missional community for policy issues. My friend assured me that the neighborhood young adults interested in exploring life and leadership in an would rally around my candidacy, urban context. You might consider mentioning the fact that I had Temple Houses and Benton Park SIX POSTURES ARE KEY TO BUILD- listened well to all around me, that We s t , o u r n e i g h b o r h o o d i n I demonstrated a willingness to St. Louis, as the “lab” where we ING COMMUNITY—LISTENING, use my voice for change, and study and practice neighborhood engagement. SUBMERGING, INVITING, CONTEND- how this had helped me develop a lot of credibility with my neighbors. We use the book “Thin Places: Six Postures for Creating and ING, IMAGINING AND ENTRUSTING. In this position, I would be given a unique opportunity to advocate Practicing Missional Community” as a field guide for building AS A LEADER OF OUR COMMUNITY, for my community. Obviously flattered, I told him I’d consider community, both within Temple Houses and in the neighborhood. IT’S MY RESPONSIBILITY TO MODEL the possibility. But I had two main concerns The book outlines six postures about the idea: I’m an introvert key to that process—listening, THESE POSTURES THE BEST I CAN. with some real tendencies toward submerging, inviting, contending, shyness and social anxiety, and I’d imagining and entrusting. As a be entering an extremely secular leader of our community, it’s my world. Add to this the fact that I would be running against a responsibility to model these postures the best I can. 23-year incumbent, who happens to be the alderman’s wife, a Here’s what that looks like for me: honoring my neighbors particularly daunting scenario. Despite my hesitations, I took by listening well to their stories; practicing faithful presence a few weeks to discern and confer with trusted friends and by attending local meetings and gatherings, choosing wisely mentors. Everyone I spoke with, without any reservations, where I spend my time and money; committing to a local told me to pursue the opportunity. existence; living a life that’s open to interruption so that I Hear this loud and clear: running for public office is not can readily accept invitations into the lives of my neighbors; for the faint of heart! Once I decided to run, a small but standing up against policies that hurt my neighbors on the remarkable team of volunteers came to my aid, launching into margins; and looking at my neighborhood through a lens of the hard work of raising funds and developing a campaign hope and reconciliation.
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DO GOOD Read “Thin Places: Six Postures for
strategy. It was a simple strategy—knock on as many doors as possible and share with neighbors my plans for developing a stronger local government. Over the course of one, hot St. Louis summer, my team and I knocked on almost 3,000 doors. Still, as Election Day approached, we all felt uncertain about my chances. We’d worked hard, but my opponent had double the campaign funds and the benefit of name recognition. I remember telling myself over and over that day—I’ve already won as I said yes to something that seemed impossible, I’d met amazing friends and neighbors, and I’d challenged a system that needs to be changed. In the process, I’d been honored to serve a community that embraced me. As polls closed at 7 p.m. on Aug. 2, 2016, we gathered together to await the results; you could feel the anticipation. I was one of several young people across the city challenging longtime incumbents. The results came in, one by one. Many of my friends lost by only a handful of votes, and a couple won with similar margins. When my results came in, I could hardly believe my eyes—861 to 616 in my favor. As Benton Park’s newly elected committeewoman, I’m afforded the ability to use my voice and influence to advocate for my neighborhood from within our local government. The weight of that responsibility is not lost on me, and I am full of gratitude.
SARA JOHNSON is the Program Director and
Community Organizer for The Salvation Army Urban Mission Center in St. Louis. Connect with Sara website urbanmissioncenter.com
Creating and Practicing Missional Community” (The House Studio, 2012) by Jon Huckins and Rob Yackley Support the work of the Urban Mission Center of St. Louis at stlsalvationarmy. org/ways-to-give Follow the Temple Houses’ neighhorhoodbased ministry at urbanmissioncenter. com/blog
QUICK BIO Age: 34 Hometown: Royal Oak, Mich. Salvationist: Since birth Weekly ritual: Find Sara every Monday morning at her local coffee shop, The Mud House, where she starts her week by writing a to-do list, greeting neighbors and enjoying a strong cup of coffee.
facebook facebook.com/urbanmissioncenter twitter @UrbanMissionCtr
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ORDINARY PEOPLE, EXTRAORDINARY B Y CA I TLIN J OH NS TON
RIGHT NOW,
all across the country, thousands of people are clicking through images of galaxies, categorizing them as either spirals or ellipticals. It’s a simple task based on pattern recognition. But it’s one that, thanks to tens of millions of responses in the past nine years, has lead to nearly 50 publications and the discovery of a new planet in a four-star system. (For anyone who doesn’t speak “outer space,” that’s a really big deal.) It’s also one of the most popular projects in the citizen science community. Citizen science is the term applied to groups of ordinary people, whatever their level of education, joining together to make meaningful contributions to scientific advancement. It’s not the replica volcano you built for your fourth grade science fair, and it’s not participating in a study as a subject. “It’s where you get to do real science and help scientists with real issues that are facing us today,” said Chandra Clarke, an entrepreneur, citizen science participant and author of “Be the Change: Saving the World with Citizen Science.”
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The idea has been around for more than a century, but has become a defined movement only in the past 15 years, Clarke said. And while astronomy projects, such as Galaxy Zoo, are common, it touches on all manner of research. For example, people can help scientists track the migratory patterns of monarch butterflies. Or they can help scientists understand how lions and other large animals interact by classifying images in Snapshot Serengeti. Not interested in animals or astronomy? History buffs can read through the diaries from World War I soldiers to help glean insights into the experience of those who fought in the global conflict. Or help scientists recover worldwide weather observations from entries recorded in 19th century Arctic ships’ logs. Zooniverse, one of the most popular communities for citizen science projects, has 1.5 million registered users around the world who participate in nearly 50 active projects. Its headquarters are at Oxford University and the Adler Planetarium. “It provides a space for those who were already interested in a topic or who are just coming across it as a possibility to participate
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SCIENCE
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LEND POWER You don’t need special training to become a citizen scientist and contribute to real academic research on your own computer, at your convenience. With Zooniverse, one of the most popular communities for citizen science, you can join projects like: Galaxy Zoo - help discover the secrets of galaxy evolution by classifying distant galaxies. Planet Four - help discover what the weather is like on Mars. Snapshot Serengeti - help classify all the different animals caught in millions of camera trap images. Penguin Watch - tag penguins in remote regions to help understand their lives and environment. Cyclone Center - help scientists at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center classify over 30 years of tropical cyclone data. Plankton Portal - help identify different plankton to assess the health of our seas.
the scientists spearheading the project were able to produce studies in a much quicker time table than previously possible. Citizen science projects also make science more relatable and understandable for the general public. Scientists interact with volunteers on message boards and in community forums, answering questions and explaining different parts of the project. “Scientists get a chance to explain what it is they’re doing to the public and why it’s important,” Clarke said. That gives participants a powerful say in how their tax dollars are spent. Those scientists depend on funding from various government organizations, which depend on voters to tell them what to do, she said. “Where public opinion lies is often where the money flows,” Clarke said. “If they can explain what it is and what they’re doing, they can better justify what funds they need.” These projects also make science more accessible for those who previously thought they weren’t “math and science” people. In a way, Clarke said, it helps bridge the gap between the sciences and the humanities by letting people take part in serious science that has tangible effects on big questions.
in science in a very low barrier way,” said Laura Trouille, co-lead for Zooniverse and director of citizen science at the Adler Planetarium. “Often science is seen as this exclusive, elite thing that only one set of people can contribute to or be important to. Here it’s very clear everybody’s contributions are useful and key.” Take for instance the progressions in modern technology that allowed scientists to collect tons of potentially groundbreaking data. The Hubble space telescope alone has produced millions of images—way more than any one scientist can go through in one lifetime. Or many lifetimes. That’s where citizen science, and the power of many working together for one cause, comes in. “Citizen science allows us to get lots of science done in a really, really short time,” Clarke said. “It also allows for more accurate data because you have lots of people checking it. It’s not so prone to one professor late at night working too late and making simple errors.” For instance, volunteers with a project at Pavilion Lake in British Columbia, Canada, were able to sort through a data set in several weeks instead of several years. That means
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DO GOOD Take part in a citizen science initiative (there are nearly 50 to choose from) and see which projects have produced published research papers at zooniverse.org Check out Chandra
“People tend to learn better by doing,” she said. “If you can get involved in science in one way or another, then you begin to understand it. By understanding it, you’re obviously more comfortable with it.” But its most profound impact might just be on your quality of life. Humans are born with a natural curiosity and the desire to understand the world around them. Just watch children at play, Trouille said. Kids are natural scientists, and for good reason. “There’s a joy to science: experimenting and exploring and learning new things,” she said. “Somehow we lose that along the way. “We want to regain the ‘everybody can do it’ aspect of science. The joy, interest in exploration, and sense of wonder.”
Clarke’s blog at citizensciencecenter.com, where she aims to create a comprehensive resource for all things related to citizen science, including project listings Read “Be the Change: Saving the World with Citizen Science” (2013) by Chandra Clarke
CITIZEN SCIENCE IS PEOPLE-POWERED RESEARCH.
CAITLIN JOHNSTON is a writer based in Tampa.
Connect with Caitlin twitter @cljohnst
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TREES TURN TO CARING
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HEAT
Photos by SAVN.tv
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THE CITY OF COOS BAY AND THE SALVATION ARMY MAKE USE OF DOWNED TREES TOGETHER.
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the rural town of Coos Bay, Ore., many residents rely solely on wood-burning stoves to heat their homes. So when former Corps Officer Lt. Kevin Pope received a call from City Manager Roger Craddock about some downed trees in need of being disposed of, he knew exactly what to do. That phone call kickstarted a partnership between the city and The Salvation Army to supply firewood to low-income seniors and disabled individuals within Coos Bay and North Bend. The city delivers the downed trees to the corps, where they accumulate until a large stockpile forms. Then the corps—now led by Envoys Dennis and Tawnya Stumpf—contacts the Coos Bay Fire Department and the men of the congregation to organize a day of chopping. Local firefighters gladly volunteer their time for this cause, said Coos Bay Fire Department Battalion Chief Dan Crutchfield. “We get to spend some time together and usually have fun and enjoy it, and at the end of the day we’re all doing something great for the community,” Crutchfield said. According to Pope, “Guys just break out their chain saws and their splitting balls and just go to work. And it’s amazing how much wood can be processed when you have that many volunteers that show up.” After the wood is chopped, volunteers deliver it to the recipients. “It’s so gratifying just to see the thankfulness in their faces,” Pope said. “It’s wood, I mean it’s firewood, but to them it’s gold.” Before he moved this summer, Pope said recipients would often share their needs and concerns with him, and allow him to pray with them. “If we didn’t have the wood program, I wouldn’t have that opportunity to get to their front door,” he said. Craddock has been pleased with the city’s partnership with The Salvation Army on this project. “It’s a great feeling, actually, to know that we had some resources
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Trees fall in Coos Bay, Ore. 1
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“It’s firewood, but to them it’s gold.”
—LT. KEVIN POPE
that weren’t being used that we could actually put to use and help people with their basic needs,” he said. “We need organizations like The Salvation Army to assist in meeting those needs, and this is obviously an example of how we can partner and both achieve both our missions at the same time.” In the four years since the program’s inception, the Coos Bay Corps has distributed over 130 cords of firewood—each stack measuring 4 ft. by 4 ft. by 8 ft. Stumpf said community members continue to step forward to help in the process. “I just pray that if there is another specific need that maybe we’re not seeing, that somebody will say something, and that we can take that and pray about it and find out: ‘God, where can we go from here?,’” Pope said. “‘How can we meet these needs for the community you’ve called us to serve?’”
City delivers downed trees to The Salvation Army 2
Chopping day joins congregation and fire department 3
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DO GOOD Learn more about The Salvation Army’s efforts to meet the specific needs of each community at westerusa. salvationarmy.org What is your Red Kettle Reason? Host an online red kettle this winter to raise money for The Salvation Army in the location and for the cause of your choosing. See more at redkettlereason.org
VIDEO See the Coos Bay partnership in action in a video by SAVN.tv at salar.my/coosbay
Volunteers deliver firewood in the community
Wood heats homes of low-income seniors and disabled individuals. Over 130 cords of firewood have been delivered to date. 5
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MUSIC OF THE SOUL CARING
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Listen to this playlist at caringmagazine.org/music-of-the-soul
WHICH SONGS CONNECT WITH THE DEEPEST PART OF YOUR BEING? BY MAT T W O ODS
MUSIC is the language of the soul. Surely, at some point
“The Planets” by Gustav Holst This was one of the very first orchestral pieces that I can remember really paying attention to. The music so vividly describing the character of each individual planet. I think we may have being learning about the solar system at school, so it was perfect timing for my dad to introduce this music to me. In particular, the anger of “Mars – The Bringer of War” really draws the listener into the soundscape. “Jupiter - Bringer of Jollity” is a wonderful movement, and its middle passage, based on the hymn “I vow to thee my country,” always stirs my emotions.
in your life you’ve connected—at the very deepest part of your being—with a piece of music. Music can create a brief space in time where heaven and earth collide, much the same effect as those “thin places” where two spheres entwine—places like Ireland’s Giant’s causeway, St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and Turkey’s famous Blue Mosque. Poet Sharlande Sledge describes these miraculous spots thusly: “Thin places,” the Celts call this space, Both seen and unseen, Where the door between the world And the next is cracked open for a moment And the light is not all on the other side. God shaped space. Holy.
“Pavane Pour Une Infante Défunte” by Ravel I remember one of my classmates playing this piece in a recital. It moved me then and it still does every time I hear it. But for me it has to be the solo piano version rather than the orchestral setting that Ravel composed later in life.
I am moved to touch heaven by many pieces of music. Maybe your list is similar; maybe not. That’s the wonderful thing about music—it touches us all differently. Much of the special music in my life I connect with a significant moment: the hymns chosen at a wedding or songs from a loved one’s funeral. Music is the soundtrack of our lives. This is a brief tour of my life’s playlist.
“The Messiah” by G.F. Handel I’ve sung this work on a few occasions, and it’s a new experience every time. One of the choruses that always speaks to me is “Worthy Is The Lamb,” which leads into the Amen section. It is a powerful section of music with big sounds from the choir and orchestra, each section of the choir having their own moment to offer their praise, which culminates in a glorious extended Amen. “Good Night, Dear Heart Music” by Dan Forrest, Robert Richardson (lyrics) and Mark Twain (lyrics)
“WITHOUT MUSIC, LIFE WOULD BE A MISTAKE.” - FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
This is a recent addition to my playlist. I only came across this song a few months ago and since then I’ve kept it on repeat. The text of the song comes from the poem that Mark Twain adapted for his daughter Susy’s headstone. The composer wrote it in memory of a child his brother and sister-in-law lost. You could approach this
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HOW MUSIC AFFECTS US
A moderate noise level can improve creativity as it increases processing difficulty and pro-
as a sad song, because of the reasons that brought it to life, but I read this poem as the closing of a chapter and a point from which to move forward.
motes abstract processing.
Warm summer sun, shine kindly here Warm southern wind, blow softly here; Green sod above, lie light, lie light, Good-night, dear heart, Good-night, good-night.
We may interpret a neutral expression as happy or sad to match the tone of the music we are hearing.
“Benedictus from The Armed Man: A Mass For Peace” by Karl Jenkins
Looking at a person’s top 10 favorite songs can help predict his or her personality traits.
I love the whole of this work. If you have an hour it would be worth your while to listen to it in entirety. Commissioned by The Royal Armouries Museum for the Millennial celebrations, it was written to commemorate the victims of the Kosovo crisis and the horrors of war. This movement, The Benedictus, is used in the work as a healing, starting slow and stately while hauntingly beautiful, then leading to the exclamation: “Hosanna in Excelsis!” What a crescendo; certainly a “Tingle Factor” moment for me.
Classical music can improve visual attention. Music helps us exercise, competing for our brain’s attention and helping to override signals of fatigue.
“All Is Well” by Michael W. Smith, sung by Voctave I suppose this is a Christmas song, but I love it at anytime (why limit the best to only a few weeks a year?). It is a great arrangement of a Michael W. Smith song, sung by an extraordinary group of singers.
SOURCE: “Is Noise Always Bad? Exploring the Effects of Ambient Noise on Creative Cognition,” Journal of Consumer Research; “Crossmodal transfer of emotion by music,” Neuroscience Letters; “Personality Secrets in Your Mp3 Player,” PsyBlog; “Listening to
“It Is Well” by Horatio Spafford (lyrics), Philip Bliss (music)
Classical Music Ameliorates Unilateral Neglect After Stroke,” American Journal of Occupational Therapy; “Let’s Get Physical:
I’ve attended church regularly, from the time I was 6 days old. I’m thankful that the churches I’ve attended in The Salvation Army have had respect for the great hymns
The Psychology of Effective Workout Music,” Scientific American.
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DO GOOD of the global church. I grew up knowing these songs instinctively. “It Is Well” is a favorite of many. With strong lyrics and a wonderful melody, what’s not to love? Spafford wrote the hymn out of tragedy. His son died at 2 years old, and then his business was financially ruined by the 1871 Chicago Fire. Two years later, Spafford planned to travel to Europe with his family on the SS Ville du Havre, but sent sent his family ahead of him while he took care of urgent business at home. It sank after colliding with another ship, and all four of Spafford’s daughters died. His wife Anna survived and sent him a telegram: “Saved alone…” He wrote these lyrics while his shipped later passed near where his daughters died. When peace like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say It is well, it is well, with my soul. It is well, (it is well), With my soul, (with my soul) It is well, it is well, with my soul “Prelude on ‘Lavenham’” by Geoffrey Nobes, Nick Fawcett (lyrics) The sound of a good, British-style brass band is comforting to me. As a young boy, I would stand up on a chair at the back of the hall to conduct the band. I even had my own baton! This music is tranquil; probably not the fireworks you would initially imagine coming from such an
ensemble. Yet, this is where a brass band comes into its own with the quiet, soft, warm sound. The melody alone is transporting. When paired with the lyrics, it brings forth a whole new set of emotions, questions, thoughts. Lord, there are times when I have to ask, ‘What?’ Times when your Love is not easy to ‘Spot’, What of life’s purpose and what of me here? Grant me some answers, Lord, make your will clear. Lord, there are times when I have to ask ‘Why?’ Times when catastrophe gives faith the lie. Innocents suffer and evil holds sway, Grant me some answers, Lord, teach me your way.
Create a playlist of the songs that move you, and share it with us on Facebook Give to The Salvation Army’s nurturing of the arts at westernusa. salvationarmy.org Read “This is your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession” by Daniel J. Levitin (Plume/Penguin/2007)
Lord, there are times when the questions run fast, Times when I fear that my faith may not last. Help me, support me, Lord, help me get through, Lead me through darkness till light shines anew. These are some of the pieces that are important to me, that I feel bring me closer to God. If they don’t do the same for you, I’m sure there are other pieces that would. I’ll leave the last word to J.S. Bach: “The aim and final reason of all music should be nothing else but the glory of God and the refreshment of the spirit.”
MATT WOODS is a Music Education Specialist in
the USA Western Territory and the Songster choir leader at The Salvation Army Torrance Corps in Southern California. Connect with Matt twitter @tenormatt
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BY JAC KELINE LUNA
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In San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood, a shared office houses The Salvation Army and Bayview Hunters Point Community Legal. The two organizations collaborate on cases, offering legal aid and services to address the underlying cause of clients’ legal issues.
WHEN
clients walk into The Salvation Army office in San Francisco's Bayview neighborhood, they might be expecting to be greeted with a thick packet of intake forms to wade through. Instead, they are offered a sleek iPad. Are you looking for legal aid? Do you have an upcoming court case? Do you know your credit score? Have you ever been evicted? Do you live in Bayview? With each response entered by the client, Salesforce, a cloud-based application, collects demographics and personal information, screens for legal and general case management eligibility and builds a detailed client profile. It may seem like a simple update on an old process, but this technology is actually key to a unique collaboration between Salvation Army social services staff and in-house legal partner Bayview Hunters Point Community Legal (BHP CL). With shared data seamlessly captured, Army staff can immediately begin to address social and economic needs, while BHP CL, gets right to work handling client legal services. Together, the legal team is pioneering the country’s first system of universal access to legal representation here, with a belief that anti-poverty work cannot be divorced from access to justice.
eviction successfully, are we just prolonging the inevitable?” Hiller and his team have found that the responses clients give to some of the questions reveal more about their needs than the section of the intake form that allows clients to self-select needs. “This data from the intake automatically tells us a story,” Hiller said. “We review the profile without looking at the self-selected need because we don’t want to be influenced by what the client says their needs are.” Services include financial counseling, assistance finding housing or enrolling in CalWORKs and community college, and help completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Marcel Shepard Gardner is one of the 1,300 clients who has received case management from both organizations. A quick Google search for legal aid with custody and child support matters brought him to the office. Gardner was surprised it only took him 20 minutes to complete his intake form on the iPad. “The process was smooth,” he said. “They didn’t have to make a file and scan any paperwork. Everything was all done right there on the spot.” The Salvation Army began using iPads in Bayview a year ago when it adopted Salesforce, which has streamlined case collaboration. It allows both organizations to check staff calendars before book- ADRIAN TIRTANADI ing client appointments. It keeps track of documents, creates tasks for the attorneys Aside from office space, the organizations share clients and Salvation Army staff, and keeps customer interactions and operations, and collaborate on a holistic approach to case up to date. While The Salvation Army can push data to BHP management. CL, and clients acknowledge this as part of the intake, the For instance, Trey Hiller, Director of The Salvation Army organizations do not sync data—an important note for Bayview, said his team works to address the underlying cause privacy requirements. Instead, the organizations collaboraof a client’s legal issue. tively—but anonymously—track outcomes across agencies. “Clients see the manifestation but not the underlying cauWith the exception of in-person office visits, all client sation,” Hiller said. “If you are struggling with addiction and communication is delivered electronically. If a client shows if you are struggling with your finances and your employment up without an email account, a staff member helps him or and you find yourself facing eviction, if we defend you in the her set one up. Michelle Carrington, 64, opened her first
If you want to be effective at changing someone’s life, you’ll have to partner.
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33% of Americans cannot af-
DO GOOD Find out how The Salvation Army meets need in your community at westerusa. salvationarmy.org Learn more about the efforts of Bayview Hunters Point Community Legal, recipient of a 2015 Google Impact Challenge grant, at bhpcommunitylegal.org Explore the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index 2016 for original data on how the rule of law is experienced by the general public in more than 100 countries at worldjusticeproject.org
email account four years ago at the Bayview office. She now uses her email to book appointments and communicate with the attorneys and Salvation Army staff. Carrington recently met with a financial advisor at the office. “He gave me a lot of ideas on how to save money, how to spend, how to budget,” Carrington said. “He told me I should have a credit score. I don’t have any credit because I never really wanted credit. He gave a different outlook on credit and what it’s good for, the do’s and the don’ts.” The legal issues Carrington originally arrived with have been resolved. She says she’s thankful that BHP CL and The Salvation Army are in the neighborhood. “We had no one here helping us with these issues, with housing, with any kind of problems we come across in everyday life,” Carrington said. “God sent these people here to help us, and I am just so grateful. They show compassion, they are very caring and made me shed tears quite a few times because of their dedication and commitment.” The Salvation Army and BHP CL will leave their current, crowded office for a larger space down the street as early as next year. Today, a total of three full-time staff and two volunteers work for The Salvation Army. They share interns with the legal aid staff, which has gone from two attorneys to eight since 2013. Adrian Tirtanadi, BHP CL Executive Director and Co-Founder, hopes the new space will allow The Salvation Army and his team to partner with even more organizations. “If you want to be effective at changing someone’s life,” he said, “you’ll have to partner.”
JACKELINE LUNA is a student at the Berkeley Graduate
School of Journalism. She previously worked as an editorial assistant for New Frontier Publications. Connect with Jackeline email jackeline.luna17@gmail.com
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ford private legal fees. Across the country, only 1 legal aid attorney exists for every 6,500 eligible, low-income Americans. Yet, litigants are up to 10 times more likely to win if they have representation. Source: Bayview Hunters Point Community Legal
GLOBAL ALLIANCE BY MINDY FARABEE
How the creation care movement is bringing interfaith groups together.
IN
late 2016, The Salvation Army in the U.K., in conjunction with a contingent of Quakers and Catholics, made international news for helping to switch some 3,500 houses of worship in total over to renewable energy. The groups timed their announcement for Sept. 1, to coincide with the onset of Creation Time—an ancient idea suddenly gaining new currency. An initiative instituted by the World Council of Churches in 2007, Creation Time, or Creation Tide, was born out of an annual, five-week initiative by the Eastern Orthodox church as a time for Christians to reflect on a theologically grounded approach to environmental stewardship. In recent years, Creation Time has become popular with numerous other Christian denominations; The Salvation Army in the U.K. endorsed the proposal from the outset.
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Here in North America., it’s often called “creation care,” where as a movement, it’s officially about 40 years old; some of its roots are visible in a 1970 resolution issued by the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), which references Psalm 8:6-8 and 50:10-11 as inspiration. But in the United States, a religious understanding of environmentalism predated the movement itself. In books like “Inherit the Holy Mountain: Religion and the Rise of American Environmentalism,” scholars have traced how, even from our Puritan days, democratic values, moral virtue and natural conservation were seen as inextricably intertwined. Ironically, it was as environmentalism went mainstream in the 1970s that religious dimension began to lose out to secular concerns. Lately, however, that pendulum has begun swinging back the other way.
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Nowadays, when it comes to creation care, “there’s growing interest, growing public awareness,” said Kurt Berends, President of the Issachar Fund, a nonprofit working to put the Christian community on the forefront of social conversations. This past May, the Issachar Fund hosted an IDEA Generators Conference in Chicago, a sort of hackathon that teamed up young Muslims and Christians to design projects capable of bringing greater sustainability to college campuses. “I think we were stepping into, or part of, a larger trend,” Berends said. It’s easy to see how he got that idea, as 2015 was a particularly busy year for religious leaders lining up to tackle the issue head on. Late last year, NAE renewed its position by issuing an urgent call to action on the conjoined issues of global poverty and global warming, just four months after Pope Francis released a nearly 200-page encyclical, or educational text, illustrating why the faithful have a duty to combat environmental collapse. At the same time, an international consortium of Muslim leaders released the Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change, while the Islamic Society of North America launched a “Greening Ramadan” campaign—adding to a movement that’s been active in the Muslim community for years. But these groups aren’t just working toward the same goal; even more than ever, they’re banding together. Hundreds of organizations have teamed up in partnerships as diverse as the 18,000 congregations behind Interfaith Power & Light, which bring clean, renewable energy to houses of worship, or the Young Evangelicals for Climate Action taking a stand alongside Native American tribes to protect ecosystems around sacred indigenous sites. Last November, the U.K. dedicated its official Interfaith Week—which for nearly a decade has sought to foster understanding between Baha'i, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism communities—to the topic, fostering a deeper infrastructure for united action between faith communities. Though far from the only arena in which people of various faiths can find common ground, one explanation for all this synergy could be that this is a realm where putting aside disagreements can come naturally. “The goal here isn’t to hide the differences,” said Berends, in regards to Issachar’s recent conference. “But even though we have differences, are there things we care about—based
on our beliefs—where we can work alongside one another? And working alongside one another, can we accomplish more together than we might separately?” Part of the reason so many groups answer that question with an easy yes, is because when it comes to creation care, many faiths speak the same language. Jews and Christians, for example, can quote many of the same Scriptures on the subject. Muslims, meanwhile, are pretty much on the same page, says Saeed Khan, who teaches Islamic and Middle East history at Wayne State University. According to Khan, the assertion in Genesis that humans rule the roost is also present in the Quran, which describes humanity as God’s “vicegerent” on earth. “That in itself provides the obligation we have to then go ahead and care for all of creation,” he said. Islam also preaches that one must leave the earth better than one found it (sound familiar?), and that in times of war, just as civilians and the innocent are to be left unharmed, one mustn’t cut down even a tree in vain, he said, an idea with some parallels in Deuteronomy.
The goal here isn’t to hide the differences. But even though we have differences, are there things we care about—based on our beliefs—where we can work alongside one another? And working alongside one another, can we accomplish more together than we might separately?
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—KURT BER NERDS Just as compelling is the understanding that we will all bear the brunt of our actions together. By its nature, ultimately global warming will remake everyone’s world. “It’s not a panacea,” Khan notes, “but it is one element where you can show the importance of sharing.” In fact, that idea seems to be bringing a surprising new constituency into the fold. NAE’s 1970 resolution might have opened with the warning that “scientists are alarmed,” but creation care has never needed results from a laboratory for its legitimacy. Lately, however, a number of scientists and other environmentalists have begun to realize that theology supplies a crucial element missing from the cold, hard facts—namely
38
a framework to address moral and spiritual failings that drive much of the callous overconsumption of our natural resources. Or as the NAE’s 1970 resolution phrased it: “Beyond the scientific, biological and political ramifications of our environment problem is a basically theological and religious issue…those who thoughtlessly destroy a God-ordained balance of nature are guilty of sin against God’s creation.” Evidently, that sounds about right to many Christians. According to a 2008 study by the Barna Group, among Christians overall, almost 80 percent would like to see their community more focused on proactive, biblically-based stewardship of the natural world. That figure jumped to 90 percent when only factoring in evangelicals, who in the same study reported a noticeable uptick in their shift toward a more “environmentally friendly” lifestyle. Not surprisingly, many Christians don’t view environmental friendliness as mere tree-hugging. As NAE’s call to action made clear, some see the disproportional devastation that environmental degradation unleashes first on the world’s poorest and most vulnerable populations as a serious social justice issue. Much has been made in recent years about society’s increasing trend toward secularization, but as of a 2012 study by the Pew Research Center, 84 percent of the world’s population still identified as religious. “An awful lot of them are asking, does my faith make a difference, or how should it make difference in the world today?” Berends said. Taking direct steps to steward creation can have a subtlety powerful effect on how one views one’s fellow humans. “I would suggest that any involvement of people of faith in practical activities has benefits beyond the activity,” said Major Alan Dixon, Salvation Army Ecumenical Support Officer (Inter Faith) in the U.K. “Relationship building and mutual trust are important components of working together for these help to minimize mistrust and suspicion and help build a stronger, more open community.” In the future that we are creating, “[s]omehow we will need to learn to be monist and pluralist at the same time,” Brigham Young University professor George Handley recently wrote in the Los Angeles Review of Books. “We will need solutions that simultaneously embrace our differences as well as our singular fate as a human family on a shared planet. “Can we do it?” he asks. “Only time will tell.”
DO GOOD Read “Inherit the Holy Mountain: Religion and the Rise of American Environmentalism” (Oxford University Press, 2015) by Mark Stoll Explore Creation Tide and Creation Care resources from the Church of England and the National Association of Evangeleicals at churchofengland.org and
Almost 80 percent of Christians—and 90 percent of evangelicals—would like
nae.net Take action with the Evangelical Environmental Network at creationcare. org or get involved with A Rocha, an international consortium of Christian environmentalists, at arocha.us
to see their fellow church goers take a more active role in environmental stewardship. SOURCE: Barna Group
MINDY FARABEE is a writer based in New York City. She
previously worked as an editor for New Frontier Publications. Connect with Mindy twitter @mindyfarabee
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AUTHENTIC INFLUENCE B Y K E V I N CASH MAN
IT IS ONLY THROUGH OUR INTERDEPENDENCE WITH OTHERS THAT WE CREATE VALUE.
WHAT
ing yourself authentically is sharing your real thoughts and feelings in a manner that opens up possibilities, and sometimes it’s the most difficult messages that can open up the most possibilities if shared in a thoughtful, compassionate manner. Influencing authentically is what one CEO I know calls “caring confrontation”—the unique blend of straight talk with genuine concern for people. Like many leaders, my CEO friend had been uncomfortable with such interaction for years. As his career progressed, he realized, “Real caring involves giving people the tough feedback they need to grow.” Carl Jung said it this way: “To confront a person in his shadow is to show him his light.”
is authentic influence? It is the true voice of the leader, and when we speak it from our character, it creates trust, synergy, and connection with everyone around us. Authentic influence is not simply refining our presentation style; it’s deeper than that. Some of the most authentic leaders I know stumble around a bit in their delivery, but their words come right from their hearts and experiences. You feel their conviction and the integral connection of who they are and what they say. As Benjamin Franklin wrote, “Think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.” Authentic influence is about straight talk that creates value. It’s not about hurting people with bluntness or insensitivity. Express-
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commit to expressing authenticity, you will not come away from relationships the same as you went in. You will come away having opened up possibilities and having created new value. Framing leadership as service As a wise, 80-year-old CEO shared with me, “I think one of the key questions every leader must ask himself is, ‘How do I want to be of service to others?’” Ultimately, a leader is not judged so much by how well she leads, but by how well she serves. All value and contributions are achieved through service. Do we have any other purpose in life but to serve? We serve our organizations. We serve our people, our customers, our marketplace, our community and our families. We serve all our relationships. At the heart of service is the principle of interdependence: relationships are effective when mutual benefits are served. “There is pride in leadership; it evokes images of direction. There is humility in stewardship; it evokes images of service. Service is central to the idea of stewardship,” Peter Block writes in “Stewardship: Choosing Service Over Self-Interest.” As leaders, when we move from control to service, we acknowledge that we are not the central origin of achievement. This shift is an emotional and spiritual breakthrough. Several years ago, I had the privilege of speaking at a Greenleaf Servant Leadership Conference, where Dee Hock also was a keynote speaker. Dee Hock, founder and chairman of Visa and author of “Birth of the Chaordic Age,” was named one of the eight people who most changed the world through business in the last half of the 20th century. Including himself in a re-
Authentic influence is about straight talk that creates value. flection about leadership, Dee said, “When we as leaders get in the bad habit of thinking that other people are there to support our success, we’re actually not leaders, we’re tyrants. Only until we go through the emotional, psychological, and spiritual transformation to realize our role is to serve others, do we deserve to be called a leader.” This is a powerful reframing of the way we typically perceive leadership, isn’t it? Once we are conscious of this more powerful perspective, it is easier to move from leadership that is self-serving and short-term to leadership that serves a larger constituency and is sustainable. In Winston Churchill’s
Start observing how authentically you are expressing yourself. How are you doing with your requests and with your promises? Fernando Flores, communications expert and president of Business Design Associates, boiled down his powerful communication paradigm to this: “A human society operates through the expression of requests and promises.” Are you authentically expressing your requests? Are you authentically fulfilling your promises? Use this model as a guide to authentic influence. It is transformative. Can you effectively deliver a tough message to someone with warmth and concern? Are you willing to risk revealing your fears and vulnerabilities to express how you are really feeling? If you
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DO GOOD Read “Leadership from the Inside Out” (BerrettKoehler Publishers, 2008) by Kevin Cashman, from which this article is adapted. Watch Celeste Headlee’s TED talk, “10 ways to have a better conversation” (ted. com) and assess your own practice of her tips. Determine which ways you’ll focus on better conversation this week and create a daily reminder to do so.
AS LEADERS, WHEN WE MOVE FROM CONTROL TO SERVICE, WE ACKNOWLEDGE THAT WE ARE NOT THE CENTRAL ORIGIN OF ACHIEVEMENT. often-quoted words, “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” We are measured as a manager by what we produce. We are judged as a leader by what we give. Or as Albert Einstein said, “It is high time the ideal of success should be replaced with the ideal of service.” Our real job is to serve all the constituencies in our life and, in the process, to appreciate genuinely the fact that only through our interdependence with others do we create value. As leaders, if we live for ourselves, we will have only ourselves for support. If we live for our organizations, we will have people for support. If we live for the world, the whole universe will support us. Serve with purpose and you will marshal far-reaching resources. A friend of mine had been seeking an opportunity to teach her son about the value of service and giving. The opportunity presented itself after the young boy’s birthday party as he prepared to devour one of his gifts, a multi-layered box of chocolates. Approaching her son, my friend asked, “Are you happy with this gift?” Wild-eyed, he responded, “Oh, yes!” My friend probed. “What could make you even happier?” Her son had no idea what could possibly add to his joy. His mother then said, “If you gave someone else a chocolate, they would be as happy as you are, and you could feel even happier.” The young boy paused for a minute. Then, he said, “Let’s go see grandma at the nursing home.” When the child saw the joy on his grandmother’s face and felt how it multiplied his joy, he was hooked. Before he left the nursing home, the box of chocolates was empty, and the boy had learned the power and joy of service. Practice serving authentically. Start by appreciating that there are forces beyond you guiding the whole process. Understand that you are fortunate to have this particular role. Appreciate it. Then, let your talents and gifts come forth in service of a greater purpose. KEVIN CASHMAN is Senior Partner at Korn Ferry,
specializing in CEO and executive development, and takes a “grow the whole person to grow the whole
10 WAYS TO HAVE A BETTER CONVERSATION: 1. Don’t multitask. Be present. 2. Don’t pontificate. Enter every conversation assuming that you have something to learn. 3. Use open-ended questions. Start with who, what, when, where, why or how. 4. Go with the flow. Thoughts will come into your mind and you need to let them go out of your mind. 5. If you don’t know, say that you don’t know. Err on the side of caution. 6. Don’t equate your experience with theirs. All experiences are individual. And, more importantly, it is not about you. 7. Try not to repeat yourself. It’s condescending, and it’s really boring. 8. Stay out of the weeds. Frankly, people don’t care about the years, the names, the dates, all those details that you’re struggling to come up with in your mind. 9. Listen. 10. Be brief. As Headlee said, “All of this boils down to the same basic concept, and it is this one: Be interested in other people.”
leader” approach to leadership development.
SOURCE: “10 ways to have a better conversation,” Celeste Headlee, 2015 TED talk (ted.com)
Connect with Kevin website cashmanleadership.com twitter @kevin_cashman
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