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FEATURE
Gleaning and giving
The Bible has a lot to say about caring for the poor, and it’s up to us to live out its teachings
— by ROBERT MITCHELL
Major Sue Wittenberg grew up in a family of eight in Kendall, N.Y., a small town on Lake Ontario. Her parents had lost their jobs, home, and car amid the instability of the 1970s, but her father found a position in Kendall as caretaker at The Salvation Army’s Camp Troutburg.
“We were surrounded by farms and many of the farmers, after meeting my dad and knowing our story, began to bring Scripture alive to me. My first memory of this was when a green bean truck upended, and bushels of beans were given to us. I have memories of gathering apples, strawberries, and corn, when the season was coming to an end.”
Only 10 years old, Wittenberg thought it was fun to gather up food, but looking back to that summer of 1974, she sees dignity and honor.
“We had to put our hands to it and claim our items, but I never felt shame,” she recalls. “I felt a connection with this community, and I felt love. This action by our new neighbors helped us get over the hump and on our feet, and it forever left an indelible impression that I want to pay forward.”
Wittenberg, now the USA Eastern Territory’s social justice secretary, sees a parallel between her childhood, the Old Testament law of caring for the poor, and today’s issue of income inequality. In 2022, Forbes magazine reported that income inequality—the gap between the wealthy and the poor—had reached “alarming levels” not seen in the United States since the Roaring ’20s, when the top 1% of households earned nearly 24% of all income. According to History.com, in 1928, 60% of families made $2,000 or less, which would be about $36,000 today. Income inequality fell from the late 1920s to the 1970s but has since been increasing nearly every year. The Economic Policy Institute said average annual wages in 2020 for the bottom 90% of wage earners were $40,085.
In The Salvation Army’s USA Eastern Territory, Trenton, N.J., was ranked No. 3 in income inequality among cities with populations of at least 50,000 people in 2022, according to Forbes, while New York City was No. 16. Similar surveys in recent years have listed the Ohio cities of Cleveland and Cincinnati among the most unequal when it comes to income.
While The Salvation Army employs a liaison to Capitol Hill to influence public policy, the Bible has a lot to say about income inequality and how Christians should treat the “least of these.” Wittenberg cites such verses as Leviticus 19:10, where the Israelites were instructed to provide for the poor: “Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.”
“God set up the guidelines and directives for the practice of gleaning as a way to feed the poor,” Wittenberg says. “A farmer would leave some of his crop in the fields and afterward the poor, including the fatherless, widows, and foreigners, would gather the leftover crops for their own sustenance.”
One day Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, ‘Let me go out into the harvest fields to pick up the stalks of grain left behind by anyone who is kind enough to let me do it.’ Naomi replied, ‘All right, my daughter, go ahead.’ So Ruth went out to gather grain behind the harvesters. And as it happened, she found herself working in a field that belonged to Boaz.
—Ruth 2:2–3, NLT
Returning to Deuteronomy, Wittenberg cited the rest of the verse: “When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow.”
Wittenberg sees a 21st century connection today through food deserts—geographic areas where residents have few or no convenient options for securing affordable and healthy foods, especially fresh fruits and vegetables. The only options for many of the poor in the United States are corner stores or bodegas with microwavable and packaged junk food, making things even more difficult for those who are hungry and in need of true nutrition.
“These deserts are disproportionately found in highpoverty areas, and The Salvation Army often fills the gap at soup kitchens and food pantries with food from farms and grocery stores,” Wittenberg said. “Food deserts create extra, everyday hurdles that can make it harder for kids, families, and communities to grow healthy and strong.”
The Salvation Army can mitigate food deserts and live out Old Testament “gleaning” not only through food pantries and soup kitchens, but also by growing produce on site for distribution. Wittenberg has also seen the presence of a Ray & Joan Kroc Corps Community Center help transform a neighborhood in Chicago, where two grocery stores opened and were sustained.
“There were other benefits I could see with the naked eye and deep within the spiritual climate as well,” she says. “The neighborhood has together gotten over the food desert hump when they began to meet, walk together, and care for and help each other.”
Wittenberg says The Salvation Army can “extend transforma tional value to our communities” by “extending hands and heart in the name of Jesus Christ. The deserts turn to springs of life.”
Major Martha Bone, the USA Eastern Territory’s social minis tries secretary, notes that Jesus once said, “The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me” in Matthew 26:11, but that doesn’t mean we stop showing compassion and help ing people do better.
“While the Scripture says the poor will always be with us, I think it’s also clear that we have a responsibility to those who are less fortunate than us,” Bone says. “And can’t we always find, regardless of the need, someone less fortunate than we are?”
Bone points out that Jesus could often be found gathering with the “sick and the poor and the hurting. I think we’re called to do so as well.” She oversees The Salvation Army’s Pathway of Hope program, which uses intensive case management to end generational poverty by setting goals for clients to obtain increased income, better housing, and education.
“My elevator speech about Pathway of Hope all the time is that in The Salvation Army, I was called to serve the poor and those in need. That was an actual calling on my life when God called me to ministry,” she says, “but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t love for The Salvation Army to work ourselves out of a job.
“Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we got to the point we no longer need food pantries? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we no longer needed to help people with rent or utility assistance?”
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith.
—1 Timothy 6:10–12
Jesus told those blessed with money to share it with the poor. In Mark 10:21, for example, Jesus told the rich young ruler in part to “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor.”
Bone calls the Parable of the Rich Fool from Luke 12 a perfect example of a covetous mindset. The fool had so much, he built bigger barns for his crops, rather than giving the surplus away.
“Anything I have is because God granted it to me, so, if it’s not mine, why am I holding on so tightly to it? I can’t take it with me. The more I have won’t grant me a better place in Heaven,” Bone says.
“There is a danger in hoarding for ourselves. The covetous mindset says that what I have is mine and I need to get more so I can have more and me, me, me, me. None of it should be about me, and what we have is a blessing, none of which I deserve, but I’ve been blessed with.”
Aimee Patterson, a consultant in Christian ethics with The Salvation Army Ethics Centre in Canada, notes how the Apostle Paul says, “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil” in 1 Timothy and urges people to “flee” from it and “be rich in good deeds.” In Matthew 19, Jesus said it would be “easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
“He doesn’t say it’s wrong to be wealthy,” Patterson says. “He just says it’s going to be hard for you to get into Heaven.”
In Luke 6:20–21, Jesus told the crowds, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.”
“Why is Jesus saying this?” Patterson asks. “I think He’s trying to say that those among us who are living in conditions of impoverishment are the ones who get it. They understand that there is more to human life than wealth and riches. There’s more to the kingdom of God than money.
“The poor get it. They understand what the kingdom of God is about. They’re in a better position to see it. I think this is really subversive to the kind of system we live in to say people suffering from poverty can understand God’s kingdom better than me. It’s right there.”
In North America, we tend to look at Scripture on poverty in a “very Westernprivileged way,” Patterson says. “I think this is largely due to the fact we still have a class system that’s based on privilege coming from things like ethnicity or nationality or gender or religion. When we have a system based on wealth and income, we know that there’s a disparity between access to things like quality education and health care and other kinds of support. People are used to the idea that the wealthy stay wealthy, and the poor stay poor.
“Because of the kind of society we live in, we kind of expect God will keep us happy as long as we follow faithfully and pray to God. We don’t expect to suffer economic poverty, yet we know that plenty of people who follow Jesus in Scripture suffered from economic poverty.”
In Scripture, God sides with the lowly and powerless over the wealthy and powerful. Just one example is God helping lowly slaves overcome the powerful and wealthy Pharaoh in the Old Testament.
“God sides with the people who have nothing,” she says. “He hears them. There are special provisions for these people.
“I think God is taking a moral stance that leads to Him caring for the poor and to remind us of our moral responsibility to care for the poor. It’s not just us giving them things when they need it, it’s about treating people as equals. When we treat people as equals, we want them to have the same privileges that we have. We don’t want them suffering from poverty. It’s about paying attention to the slaves rather than the wealthy.”
Patterson says many churchgoing Salvationists “never take part in social services” or meet the poor, holding the downtrodden at arm’s length. They get “selfsatisfied with that,” she worries, and complacent.
Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.
Most of the world knows The Salvation Army for its love, compassion, and human services, but many don’t recognize the organization as a church. Patterson would like not only to see the two entities more integrated but to “identify human equality as a part of how God has created us.”
“If we’re all loved by God and created in God’s image, we need to treat each other as equals,” she says.
“That means not only in our dayto day encounters with people who are impoverished or disadvantaged, but it also involves confronting the kind of class system we have that keeps the economy moving in ways that advantage some over others, that keeps the rich wealthy and the poor impoverished.”
The Salvation Army locations deal with poverty daily but are not involved much in the why of income inequality. Officers (ministers) and staffers, often motivated by Matthew 25’s admonition to care for the “least of these,” get up every day and help the hurting and hungry at the lowincome end of the spectrum.
Captain Alan Porchetti, who leads The Salvation Army in Trenton, N.J., says he saw the Forbes article listing his city as No. 3 in income inequality and was not surprised.
“Thank God we’re not No. 1 or No. 2,” he says. “We do see income inequality a lot. It’s unfortunate. There is a big difference between wages here. It’s about 80% or 85% lowincome. I really do not see a middle class, especially in this part of Trenton.
“There is income inequality, but we’re still here. That’s one of the reasons The Salvation Army is in Trenton, to fill that need and void for families.”
Porchetti says Trenton, like many U.S. cities, is plagued by opioids and the future is a “little blurry.” He says The Salvation Army is “strong when it comes to empowering people” so they can get into the workforce by offering English as a second language classes.
The church has an active food pantry, and a canteen goes out every Friday and serves 300 meals. Clients can find utility and rent assistance and afterschool programs. The food pantry also offers basics such as diapers, formula, personal care items, cleaning supplies, and laundry detergent.
And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.
—Matthew 14:19
Major Jonathan Jackson, the divisional secretary for Newark Area Services in New Jersey, says he sees income inequality up close.
“As for The Salvation Army in Newark, we feel we can speak into it in the workforce development community,” he says. “We’ve taken steps to partner with the city of Newark’s workforce development in several ways just to help close some of those income gaps.”
Jackson says one program teaches trades to men just released from prison. Another helps women become general contractors. However, it’s the younger generation that he hopes to change.
“The way we’re speaking to it is through youth development programs,” he says. “We’re hoping that they will stay in school and get an education that can lead to good jobs. That has been our vision for the last few years. We want to solve poverty through children.”
Karen Cotugno, director of social services for the Greater New York Division (GNY), says the division has relaunched its Pathway of Hope program and is now working with 18 families.
“We want to make sure those who are in poverty have a way out if they have a desire to do so,” Cotugno says.
GNY partners with those who are on parole and probation to help them find work. Operation Ceasefire, in conjunction with the New York City Police Department, helps those who want to leave gang life and find work. GNY also offers a huge number of social services programs including food pantries and soup kitchens, along with three homeless shelters. The Essential Community Solutions program provides care management for those with chronic illness, mental health issues, and substance abuse to help people stay healthy and be productive members of society.
“Often, we find in areas of poverty, people don’t maintain their health,” Cotugno says. “They don’t utilize physicians. They wait until they’re very sick and they go to the ER and then they’re hospitalized. We want to make sure people are working with local physicians, keeping appointments, and taking the medications prescribed to them.”
Karen Brauer, the director of social services for the Northeast Ohio Division, says income inequality is a problem in certain pockets of greater Cleveland, but the problem goes beyond that.
“The need is prevalent throughout our five locations here in Cleveland,” Brauer says. “We are feeding the poor and lowincome every day. Based on the numbers coming to our food pantries, we definitely see a need. When we look at the population that we serve and the basic needs we’re providing of food, shelter, utilities, and clothing, certainly we see that there is great need.
“Our doors are open. Our food pantries are busy, our soup kitchens are busy, our utility program is always happening. When the grants are available, the clients are at our doors. We don’t have to look for clients; they’re there every day.”
Porchetti, recalling Jesus’ feeding 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish, says He started with something anyone can do.
“It took prayer,” Porchetti says. “Jesus did that because there was a need. When we see there is a need, we like to empower people. We’re here to fulfill the need, but you’ve also got to put your positive spiritual side into it. You’ve got to do something for yourself. The Salvation Army is not only here to supply for your needs, but we’re also here to help you in a spiritual manner. That’s why we’re a church.”
