“IN GOD WE TRUST”
COMMUNITY FIRST MEDIA
www.shelbyinfo.com Our 41st Year • Issue No. 2 • January 11, 2024
Blessings of Peace, Joy & Health in the New Year!
704-484-1047
2024
Salvation Army of Cleveland County provides services to hundreds The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian Church. Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by the love of God. Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination. By Jean Gordon Sgt. Joseph Rodgers and Sgt. Patti Rodgers came to the area six months ago for their first assignment with the Salvation Army. The couple, married 31 years, are the administrators of The Salvation Army of Cleveland and Rutherford Counties. In their duties they oversee all operations from the most recent Christmas Cheer Center/Angel Tree drive, the Red Kettle collections, to helping prepare the thrift stores for the after-holiday sales and helping with human services programs. Though new to the area, the couple lives in Shelby and Sgt. Joe has been connected with the Salvation Army since he was a young boy. When he was 10, he attended the Salvation Army in his hometown of Sumter, South Carolina and the following summer went to the Salvation Army’s Camp
The Cleveland County Thrift Store is located at 310 West Dixon Boulevard in Shelby. It is open Monday through Saturday from 9am to 5pm. (Photos by Jean Gordon) Walter Johnson in Denton. He later worked at the camp during the summer of 1988. The couple met through a mutual friend in Sumter in June of 1991 and the rest is history. They fell in love, had four children and have 10 grandchildren.
Sgt. Joe said prior to his employment with Salvation Army he worked in pest control, in hospital security at Prisma Health Oconee in Oconee County and in October of 2021, he became the Corps Mission Associate for the Anderson, South Carolina Corps
Cleveland County; October 2023-December 2023: • 654 people served • 136 families for food • 408 individuals •37 families needed clothing assistance • 111 individuals Christmas: Cleveland County assisted 324 children from 130 applications To volunteer time or to make a financial donation, call 800-725-2769 Joseph and Patti Rodgers.
of The Salvation Army. While the couple was in Oconee County, Sgt. Patti worked for seven years at Prisma in housekeeping and later worked as a house monitor at a Salvation Army shelter in Anderson. Their June 2023 appointment to Cleveland and Rutherford Salvation Army programs is their first appointment for the Salvation Army as Corp. Administrators. In their new roles Sgt. Joe is the Corps Administrator and Sgt. Patti is the Assistant Administrator. “But if I am not here, she can do all of this,” Sgt. Joe said. “The Salvation Army is my church and I have been a soldier member for 37 years,” Sgt. Joe said. He also said the Salvation Army must meet the spiritual needs of people as well as the human needs. “If you’re shivering you need a blanket and if you’re hungry you need food,” he said. But the spiri-
tual needs are of utmost importance, and should be met, he said. ‘My desire is to improve the spiritual, the physical needs and hopefully improve the emotional and mental needs as well,” Sgt. Joe said. Sgt. Patti says among the greatest needs for the Salvation Army is to help people with utility payments, rental assistance and to receive food. The Salvation Army works to meet all these needs and there is a social worker on staff to address these issues daily. The Cleveland County unit has a Salvation Army Church where Sgt. Joe preaches each Sunday at 11 a.m. Sunday school begins at 10 a.m. The church is located at 305 N. Layafette Street in Shelby. The Shelby church facility is in need of renovation, he said. Sgt. Joe hopes one day to begin a Salvation Army church in Rutherford County, perhaps having worship services on Sunday afternoon. While in Anderson, the couple said they began to pray for direction as to where God wanted them to go. The couple was approached in June 2022 about the possibility of coming to the area as the retirements of Sgt. Les and Sgt. Mary Ashby were imminent. The couple was asked to come to Charlotte on April 13 for what they thought was an interview. Instead it was to offer them the jobs for Rutherford and Cleveland Salvation Army positions. “They offered us the commander’s job right then,” Sgt. Joe said. See SALVATION, Page 2