FAITH in ACTION

Around the Territory

by Robert Mitchell

COVID–19 attacked large, densely populated cities, and rural areas were also hard–hit. Here are some reports from the field.

Lebanon, Pa.—Lieutenant Ivonne Rodriguez said the phone never stopped ringing after the outbreak of COVID–19.

The calls came mostly from the community’s growing Hispanic population. Many had lost their jobs and were scared.

“Some of the clients we’ve seen call us every single day,” Rodriguez said. “They are Hispanics. They’re not working, and all of the callers are asking for food. They don’t have groceries and they mainly want to know about our distribution for emergency food.”

Rodriguez and her husband, Lieutenant Marlon Rodriguez, are bilingual and that was reassuring for the Spanish–speaking people who called.

“They feel comfortable when you speak their language,” she said. “They want to express themselves. They have concerns. They have questions. They want to know how they can register and get food. They need prayer and we pray with them. Some of them start crying and we talk to them about God if that door is open. Whatever they need, we are here to serve them.”

Ashland, Ohio—Four Chinese students from Ashland University (AU) found themselves stranded in the small Ohio community due to the travel restrictions surrounding COVID–19.

The university allowed them to remain in campus housing, but the school was otherwise closed, including food service. The students came to the food pantry at the Salvation Army’s Ray & Joan Kroc Corps Community Center in Ashland seeking assistance.

Major Annalise Francis, the Kroc Center administrator and corps officer, said the staff shared a month’s supply of groceries and told the students about The Salvation Army’s mission and the love of Jesus Christ.

“We were later told by an AU staff member that they returned to the university blessed by the experience, mentioning how they were treated with love, dignity, and respect,” Francis said.

Monessen, Pa.—When a local barbeque restaurant donated brisket to The Salvation Army, Captain Susan Thwaite wondered who would appreciate such a delicacy.

Then she thought about the healthcare workers battling COVID–19 at Monongahela Valley Hospital.

Thwaite said the brisket became the centerpiece for 40 meals, which also included green beans, egg noodles, dessert, and drinks.

“They were very nice meals compared to the other feedings we’re doing,” she said. “That was something special. We just wanted the hospital workers to know we were thinking of them. We wanted to brighten their day, give them some hope, and let them know we’re praying for them.”

Nashua, N.H.—It pays to be connected.

Rosemarie Dykeman, the director of social services for the Nashua, N.H., Corps, is one of the most connected people in town and that helped The Salvation Army land a much–needed commercial freezer during COVID–19.

Dykeman is a member of the Greater Nashua Food Council and also serves on a variety of local boards, including several funded by the United Way of Greater Nashua.

Those two organizations recently came together to buy four freezers for local non–profits at a cost of about $7,000.

“I was able to express the things that The Salvation Army here in Nashua needed and I said, ‘If I can do a big ask, we would really like a freezer. That would really help us out.’ Since we’ve installed it, it is completely full. We keep filling it up every day. It has been so helpful,” Dykeman said.

Dykeman said before the freezer arrived, The Salvation Army and other organizations sometimes had to turn away large food donations.

“Because we didn’t have enough freezer and refrigerator space, we weren’t able to take as much as we could,” Dykeman said.

Having the freezer upstairs near the front lobby of the corps has been a huge blessing during COVID–19.

“Our numbers tripled since COVID,” Dykeman said.

Bangor, Maine—The Salvation Army’s Dorothy Day Soup Kitchen received a $3,700 donation from Central Maine Moving and Storage and the Masonic Rising Virtue Lodge, both in Bangor. The bulk of the donation came from Central Maine Moving and Storage’s employee auction.

The company makes more than 1,000 home deliveries a month for various firms. If a piece of furniture is damaged or not acceptable, the companies ask Moving and Storage to pick it up and store it in their warehouse. Eventually, they usually ask for the items to be disposed of or given to charity.

The company holds an employee auction each month and gives the proceeds to charity. This time, it was The Salvation Army.

Bloomsburg, Pa.—The food needs in this small Pennsylvania community were not large, however the area’s children grew restless during the quarantine.

Michael Schmid, the treasurer and a volunteer at the Bloomsburg Salvation Army Service Center, sprang into action. A 39–year military veteran, Schmid enlisted the help of two local

American Legion units, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the Elks Club, to raise $2,000 for “Boredom Survival Kits.”

“We went shopping and we got everything from spinners to birdhouse kits to race car kits,” Schmid said. “We got little planters and dirt and seeds. We put together some fantastic kits.”

Schmid said 102 kits, which also featured such unique gifts as painting projects and card games, were distributed at two separate events.

Cambridge, Ohio—Captain Candice McMillen came up with the idea of “Boredom Buster Bags” in her community.

“We found that we had a lot of stocking–stuffer–type toys left over from Christmas, so we put those in a bag,” said McMillen, a former pre–school teacher. “We also copied our Orange Sunday school material. We purchased new books. We had some board games and game cards (such as UNO) and we included those to encourage families to work together.”

The bags included an assortment of goodies such as Play–Doh, coloring and puzzle books, crayons, small cars, craft kits, checkers, kites, and bubbles, along with age–appropriate COVID–19 information sheets.

Kingston, N.Y.—The corps fed hungry people daily through a pick–up window at the corps, but Lieutenants Alexander and Olga Vargas also remembered the children of the community.

During Holy Week, the officers delivered 30 Easter baskets to the Children’s Home of Kingston, where several kids were separated from their parents for the holiday. The baskets included chocolate crosses, candy, prayer books, and a water bottle.

When it came to providing food, the corps delivered meals and other foodstuffs to 25 rooms at a local motel housing people receiving social services. Alexander said many people in the motel had no transportation or were elderly. Preparing meals in their rooms was prohibited.

The corps staff handed out food to people who congregate at a nearby gas station and delivered ice cream to children at a local daycare center that remained open.

Vineland, N.J.—The corps typically offers a popular Adopt–a–Family program during the Christmas season. When COVID–19 created a need for food, the corps decided to resurrect the effort with an Adopt–a–Family food drive.

Case manager Aubrie Bonestell, who is also the administrative assistant, said the corps advertised two “no–contact” food drives in late April. Donors were urged to adopt a family and donate enough items for a meal or even several meals.

Bonesteel said tables were set up in the parking lot. People drove up and handed off their donations to volunteers or simply popped their trunks.

“They didn’t even have to get out of their vehicles,” she said. “If they had items in their trunk, we would get it for them. There was no contact. They had their masks on, we had our masks on, and people loved it.”

Steubenville, Ohio—Lieutenants Erik and Barri Vazquez–Muhs had to go it alone for a month when they lost their only employee and faced a huge increase in people seeking food during COVID–19.

Because the corps is cramped and most of its volunteers are seniors—the most vulnerable to the virus—the decision was made to keep them at home.

“It was a lot of extra work and it was just my wife and I for the entire month of April,” Muhs said.

Between the two of them, Lieutenants Erik and Barri developed a workable social distancing solution for food distribution. One of them would handle the phones and the intercom system at the corps and send orders via walkie–talkie. The other would box the food and leave it outside the back door when someone was ready to make a pickup.

Portsmouth, N.H.—When a local homeless shelter lost its volunteers because of COVID–19, the city’s AC Hotel stepped into the gap to provide daily meals.

The hotel managers also helped The Salvation Army by providing 100 meals a day, seven day a week, for the six critical weeks after the COVID–19 outbreak and shutdown.

The meals included such fine foods as ham, turkey, and spaghetti & meatballs.

Major Donna Marie Reed, who leads the corps along with Lieutenant Kimberly Clark, said the meals were served each night out of the soup kitchen at the corps. The help was timely.

“Having those 100 hot meals was amazing, especially at the beginning, when everything was closing down and there weren’t many places for people to go,” Reed said. “They went to seniors and the homeless population and just low–income people who are struggling.”

Marietta, Ohio—With nursing homes taking the brunt of COVID–19, Lieutenant Megan Moretz wanted to bless the staff of the Heartland of Marietta nursing home, which saw several people contract the coronavirus. The home is special to Moretz and the corps because they held a church service there once a week before the coronavirus hit.

“We’ve gotten to know a few staff members and several of the residents,” Moretz said. “They’ve certainly been in our hearts and prayers as they’ve dealt with this.

“I know it must have been a stressful time for the staff and everyone living there.”

In late May, the corps received a donation of candy bars and decided to bless the nursing home staff, which was toiling each day despite receiving little recognition. Moretz delivered 50 candy bars to a staffer outside the nursing home.

“We just tied the candy bars together with a ‘thank you’ note and delivered those to the Heartland of Marietta,” Moretz said. “Even just a small gesture like that was appreciated by the staff.”