Heart to God, Hand to Man

Whenever a new officer is transferred that questions echo’s in the minds of the community. It brews in the hearts of Salvation Army Employees. Local Soldiers, volunteers, and friends of the Army all ponder “Who is this new person?” My name is Rio Ray. I have been happily married to my beautiful wife Rachel for eight years. We have two boys who bring amazing joy and love to our lives. My wife and I became officers five years ago, and were commissioned to our first appointment in Fountain Colorado. We had an overall good experience in Fountain and felt like God used our efforts there to build up the corps, start many youth programs, and begin a consistent social service outreach.

Who are we? We are two individuals who have committed their lives to serving the needy, hurting, and lost. We are not especially talented in any way, but we are committed to fighting the battle against hunger, giving hope to those in despair, and caring for those our society often forgets. Our hope and prayer is that God will use us to make a difference in the lives of people here in Glendale.

Now you know a little about me, I invite you to come and tell your story. Maybe together we can better people’s lives.

God Bless!

Captain Rio Ray

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Rick White, Director of Social Services

Jesus liked to tell stories when He taught. Many were His way to describe what heaven will be like. Some are easy to understand; some are not so clear.

At one point, Jesus talked about what things will be like at the end of this age. In Matthew’s account, Jesus told several stories to try and describe the end. Finally, He talked about the King separating the sheep from the goats.

What is the basis for the sort? How you treated the “least of these”. He expands on that by describing the least – the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, and the sick, those in prison.

He’s describing those who were “invisible” to the rest of polite, middle-class society. Who are Glendale’s invisible people?

There are lots – homeless people, undocumented workers, at-risk kids. But somewhere in the discussion we would have to include the elderly. More than 10% of the population of Los Angeles County is over age 65. Yet senior programming funds are either level or decreasing.

Expenses are rising while the majority tries to live on fixed incomes. Not only that but many seniors are isolated. Economic pressures have caused their children to move away.

So how does The Salvation Army care for the “least of these” in Glendale?

Our Meals On Wheels program provides several things to the seniors in Glendale. Of course we provide a hot, nutritious meal to seniors who cannot cook for themselves. More importantly, our volunteers provide human contact. Several of our clients rarely leave their homes. They have no family nearby and often do not see another person all day. With their lunch, the seniors get a friendly smile and a few minutes of conversation.

Not only that, but we become the eyes, ears and hands for distant relatives. Not long ago, one client fell and broke her wrist. She admitted to the volunteer that she had been having black-outs – which is why she fell. We called the family to see if they were aware of the black-outs. Come to find out, the woman had only told the volunteer – not her family, her friends or her doctors. Because of the relationship with our volunteer, she was able to get the help she needed.

A smile, a kind word, a few minutes of your time. They don’t sound like much to give do they? They aren’t worth much are they? But not only will they make the difference in the life of a senior citizen, but as far as I can tell you’re giving them to Jesus. That makes them worth a bit more, doesn’t it?

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In July I will be leaving my position working with youth here at The Salvation Army. It will have been about two years since I began with the kids at this corps. While I’m leaving Glendale to pursue a different course than that of youth work (I’m going back to school to study law) I do not feel that this is an entirely different direction. My eyes have been opened to many things while I’ve worked for The Salvation Army. I am proud for the time that I have spent here and what we, as a team, as a Corps, have been able to accomplish. It’s been an honor to work with my fellow social servants in our efforts to bring Christ’s Spirit and message to the people of our community. The mission we take on as members of The Salvation Army and the call that the name “Salvation” entails will continue to inform my work even as I go on to work in other venues and in a vastly different capacity.

The call of The Salvation Army, as I have experienced it, is to work diligently to pursue justice and relief to those in great need, as it says in the book of James, to look after orphans and widows in their distress. No one is taking that call more literally than The Salvation Army. Our youth programming provides service to primarily single-parent households that would be financially unattainable without the foresight of the Army’s commanders, generosity of our donors and dedication of our staff. I am so blessed to have been a party to the mission for the last couple of years in a direct, hands-on way.

Last night, as I drove home from work, I received a phone call from the mother of one of the students in our film program. She was calling because she is concerned for her son. She is a single-mother and he is her only son. He doesn’t have a father figure at home and she is concerned for him. He is quiet, disinterested, and disengaged – failing out of school and spending most of his time playing video games. He is too old for some of the great mentoring programs that are offered locally and she fears she is losing him. She was calling to check in on his progress in the film program. He doesn’t talk to her much at home and she wasn’t even sure if he’d been coming or if he’d just been telling her he had. She said there was so little that interested him that she found it hard to believe he was still coming to film. He has been, however, and he seems to be really enjoying himself. On top of that, he’s very talented. He’s also beginning to talk. What a pleasure it was to give her this account and confirm that her son was making progress with us.

Thinking on that, I am reminded of another student we had in our tutoring program. His single-mother had brought him to us silent. He had stopped talking. She did not know why. I forgot this is how he came to us because these days he talks a lot. The impact on kids lives evident in stories like these is what I will really miss when I go. That is, the kids are what I will miss… the relationships. The relationships are where our mission is borne out. That’s where Christ’s mission is borne out. That component of this experience is what I hope to take with me.

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When we think of an “Advisory Board”, different pictures come to mind. One usually thinks of a group of influential community members. When I first started taking notes at our board meetings, I met long time donors to The Salvation Army, doctors, attorneys, business men and community members. I was pleasantly surprised by the diversity of our Advisory Board. We have a broad range of ethnicity, background, culture and work experience. Our Glendale Board members all come from diverse backgrounds but they are unified in their commitment in the mission of The Salvation Army.
Our meetings are held on every third Monday of the month. We come together to see the best ways to change lives and meet community needs. Each member contributes to the board in different ways. Most have traveled extensively, lived in other states and have an understanding of culture beyond the “Glendale Culture”. Therefore, they offer different view points as we reach out to the community.
It has been a privilege to be part of the meeting even though I play a small part. To sit in on meetings taught me a lot about how decisions are made and the part played by each member. Working with a subgroup of the board on strategic planning has also been a very important part of my experience. Board members are busy individuals who find the time to be committed to The Salvation Army. The great possibility of helping needy families is what keeps our board members dedicated to serve. I am excited to be part of changing our community.
Working for The Salvation Army for over two years has been a very different and rewarding experience. Serving families who have to decide between food and housing has been painful to see yet rewarding to assist.
We are all saddened by the news of our Captains leaving – the Advisory Board, the staff, many of our families and clients (including the Silvercrest residents). But, after getting to know the Advisory Board better, it is easy to have confident that The Salvation Army will continue to play an important part in serving the needs in the city of Glendale.

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If you were a young man in 1983, you probably spent your Sunday nights watching The A-Team – one of the greatest TV shows of all time! You’re not familiar with The A-Team? Then I guess you’re not a fan of gratuitous explosions and over the top cartoon violence.

The A-Team was a group of ex-military commandos who hatched outrageous and complicated plans to help the good guys and fight for the oppressed. These plans often included building weapons and vehicles from left over and discarded parts. Their leader, Hannibal Smith, often ended the set piece by saying “I love it when a plan comes together”. (You also may know the A-Team from Mr. T’s famous line “I pity the fool.” If not, I recommend YouTube and hope you won’t think less of me.)

Why am I reminiscing about a corny 80’s TV show? Because I recently felt like Hannibal Smith. The day was May 10, 2008. The occasion was our Annual Postal Food Drive. The National Association of Letter Carriers designated this day as a day “to stamp out hunger”. They ask postal customers across the country to put out food for the needy. The letter carriers collect the food to donate to local food banks.

The Salvation Army has partnered with the NALC for more than 10 years. This year we collected more than 30,000 lbs of donated food from the 5 Post Offices in Glendale (and the one in La Canada). Picture this. The letter carrier pulls in to the post office in their jeep or truck. The back is filled with loose plastic bags of food. We are responsible to help unload the vehicle, sort the food, and then box it for transport back to our food pantry.

Are you getting an idea of how involved this plan is? Six post offices, 70 volunteers, 30,000 lbs of food – all collected over the course of 3 hours!

Each post office was crewed by a Glendale Corps staff member (Thank you again for your help and support!), a volunteer helper from our drug and alcohol rehab program in Pasadena and volunteers from the community.

While I appreciated all the hard work from the Salvation Army staff and ARC guys, it was the volunteers who made me stand back in awe and in deep appreciation. I hate to list them because I know I will forget someone important. But a workman’s load was carried by the Boy Scouts, Verdugo Hills Council. The scouts worked hard and kept pushing – even when it was obvious how tired they were. We had a church youth group and a high school key club pitch in. And several volunteers saw our need posted on the Internet – they came early and stayed late.

Honestly, I was a little nervous going into the event. I didn’t know what to expect or who would show up. But at the end of the day, when we had boxes and boxes of food in the pantry, I finally was able to relax and think “I love it when a plan comes together”.

Thanks to all who participated. Your hard work will make a difference to a hungry family in Glendale!

Rick White
Director of Social Services

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Hello, this is Meghan Bowra reporting on my two day training as the Safe Place Coordinator for the Glendale Corp of the Salvation Army. Remember, Safe Place is a youth crisis service for kids who need help in navigating their hard times and would like a safe place to go for resources. Training to coordinate these efforts on a local level took place in Louisville, KY, a friendly city with an urban flare but a small town feel. As Louisville was the founding city for the Safe Place mission it was an ideal setting to learn about the history, success and nation wide spread of Safe Place. Currently, there are 144 life-changing community locations nationwide. The quality care and heartfelt concern represented by the yellow diamond is recognized coast to coast, from Puerto Rico to our own Glendale, CA.
Speaking of Glendale, there are a number of useful Safe Place management tips that I gathered from the training conference that could make an impact here at home. To begin, I may look in to partnering with new and old commercial Safe Place sites by extending an opportunity these businesses to complement their site status with free advertising in exchange for financial support of the Safe Place mission. This donation could boost the quality of our presentation materials as well as the number kids we are able to reach. This brings me to the primary focus of the conference: how to disseminate the Safe Place symbol to our teen audience. I learned that there are numerous avenues of communicating the Safe Place service such as training the School Resource Officer, school faculty and guidance counselors, to create a Myspace.com / Facebook.com profile, running a 30 second spot during movie previews, or by sending press releases to local media. The important consideration is getting the message to our target audience in a way that they can relate.
Perhaps the most resounding bit of information that I took away from the Safe Place coordinator training was the willing attitudes of the staff in the National Safe Place head quarters. Each member is there to assist me in my local efforts as best they can. I was taught how to utilize tools designed for increased efficiency including a comprehensive statistics comparison database, an online monthly reporting system as well as an entire website full of resources from forms to presentation materials. But if should need additional assistance for networking or anything else, I now know who to call and I know that I can get help…fast.

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When the announcement of Captains Jim and Barbara Sloan departure became official last month, we were all, naturally, saddened. Then, all the questions incumbent with such a change came to mind: “What would the next set of Captains be like?” and what “differences would they bring to the Corps and to the existing programs?” To date, all the information we have received is quite affirming and we are anticipating the change with some mixed degree of excitement to have new leadership on board and, yet, we cannot hide our disappointment over the reality that the Sloans will not be here to guide our ship into the future with the same disciplined maturity and nurture that we have grown accustomed to in their mentoring style.

I inherited a program in Safe Place that had been established under the direction of the Sloans, and the mentoring influence of Committee Member and community activist, Marilyn Gunnell who sits on the National Safe Place Board. Mara Schneider worked hard as the former Safe Place Coordinator to both build and insure the success of a program that the entire community has rallied around and that has proven to be both effective and very much worth the heightened visibility we have turned our attention toward giving the program over the several months that I have been program coordinator. Still, change is the one constant that God seems to insist upon for continued growth and health. And so, we will be taking on a new Safe Place coordinator in Meghan Bowra who comes to us as Fuller graduate with a background and, also, an undergraduate degree in fashion merchandising and design. While I will still exercise oversight of the Safe Place Program in my new role as Youth Programs Director, Meghan will bring a fresh perspective and vitality to the Safe Place program that we have anticipated as a part of its growth and outreach process within our schools, community and among our youth and their families.

The time we have spent getting to know Meghan has convinced us all that she is the right person for this leadership role. Her interaction with the children and her fellow staff members at the Zone, coupled with her energy, enthusiasm and positive approach to what Safe Place is all about is refreshing. It is especially refreshing in a day when so many of our young professionals seem to get caught up in a materially driven society that demands a self-insulating attitude against the concerns of others. The beauty of working with Safe Place and in the Zone Program is that we are surrounded by each other, but a staff and leadership team that CARES about the world around them, about each other and about how we can effect positive change for Christ in a world that so desperately needs is. So, we can know, that whatever changes God enacts, they are for His glory and our good. And though we may miss those we’ve grown close to, we can anticipate that God is all about bringing the right people and the right changes in to our lives and that these will accomplish His will in us because He “is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

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We are moving to Portland, Oregon! Barbara and I have been in Glendale for six great years and would just as soon not go through the upcoming move process! Packing, thinking about what to leave out, throw away, put into the box… thinking about Portland, wondering what lies ahead. Saying goodbye to friends, that is the hardest! Wondering, hoping that the work we did here will be built on, not taken apart.
I would just as soon skip the whole process, but… When we committed our lives to serving God in this very peculiar organization called The Salvation Army, also committed to go where sent, and pray that God’s hand is in the process and will be there, as he always has been to date!

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Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14 KJV.

I certainly do not understand everything, indeed not even most things. And, I have not fully grasped the formula for being always in the center of God’s will for my life. This, I believe is the “prize” which Paul refers to in Philippians 3:13-14, that we press toward and that is represented in the “high calling” of which he speaks. For me, living out the high calling of God in Christ Jesus means being available to Him, to his very presence and power, in whatever He bids me to do for time and eternity. This applies nowhere more than it does to the present time and place which he has called me to. When I receive a Safe Place call from a teen in critical need or I am in the Zone assisting the director, the staff, and especially the kids who come for tutoring and more, it is not always easy to focus on the power and presence of God as a resource for processing where God actually is in the mix of the “doing” or the “outcomes.”

Certainly, one thing I have discovered is that whatever I am engaged in, here, it is relational because it always involves people. This means being of service to and with others. This is the business of the Church, which the Salvation Army and I are, both, a part of. I have come to embrace the fact that most of the work of the Church that is meaningful and that brings the presence and life-changing power of God to individuals and communities is not done in the Sunday worship service. But, it is represented in sitting with a 10-year-old boy who is struggling with reading and helping him work through his lessons, or in fielding a walk-in visit, as I recently did, with a 16-year-old who needed to find direction and resources for dealing with the personal crises of ending his relationship with an abusive girlfriend. These have become the daily stuff of “ministry” for me. Reflection is often done at the end of a long day after fighting LA traffic and, then, helping my own two children with homework or their personal “crises.” Such reflection often looks like concessional prayer and putting the day to rest so that the challenges of tomorrow can be faced with some refreshed sense of who God is and how I can press toward the prize of being used, daily, to deliver on his “high calling” with those he has given me to serve.

So, I have at least come to understand that while such things as reflection, prayer, word study and worship service are all important means of meeting with God and engaging in his presence, that I am no less in his will, way, presence and pleasure when I am in The Zone, The Safe Place or wherever he has called me to be among others, doing what he has bid me to do. It is here that I press toward the mark and reach, daily, for the “prize” that is my calling.

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I’m Hungry

I have two teenagers living at my house. One of their most common complaints is “There’s nothing to eat.” “That’s not fair” pops up a lot but it’s really a distant second. For those without teenagers, some translation is necessary. “Nothing to eat” actually means either “nothing easy to eat” (any kind of prep work or cooking is too much work) or “nothing I like to eat” (like cookies).

This is an exaggeration, but the point is clear. At my house, “There’s nothing to eat” has never been a literal statement. But for 280,000 people in Los Angles County, “there’s nothing to eat” means there is nothing to eat. More than 20,000 children in LA County go to bed hungry every night.

We might be tempted to think “LA County is a mess! I’m glad we don’t have these problems in Glendale.” But we do.

The UCLA Center for Health Policy defines “food insecurity” as “limited or uncertain access to nutritionally adequate and safe foods”. Their Health Policy Research Brief determined “not surprisingly, the lowest-income households are at the highest risk of food insecurity (and hunger)”.

According to the most recent census information, Glendale’s median income is slightly less than LA County’s. So I think we’re safe in assuming that the percentage of hungry people in Glendale will be similar to LA County – 3%. That said, tonight in the city of Glendale, 5850 people will go to bed hungry. Almost 900 of these hungry people are 65 years old and older. There are 1600 children in Glendale who didn’t eat today.

Additionally in our city, 18,800 people are considered to be food insecure. In simple terms, this means they are not sure where their next meal is coming from. These families have more anxiety and depression than their well-fed peers. They are more likely to put-off necessary medical care and expenses even though they are more vulnerable to disease. Children in these families miss more school and have lower grades than others.

The Salvation Army plays a small part in trying to help the hungry in Glendale. In 2007, we gave away more than 1,800 bags of donated food. Every week, we deliver 250 hot lunches to home-bound seniors through our Meals On Wheels program.

As rent, gas and food prices continue to increase, so will the number of hungry people in Glendale. Through the generosity of individuals and organizations, the shelves in our food pantry remain miraculously full. There are times when we think we might just run out of food. There are times when we think we might have to make the food bags a little bit “lighter”. Then an angel pulls up to our back door with a car full of groceries and we know that everything is going to be all right for another week!

This year we have seen more people in our food pantry than in the recent past. Nationally, food banks are seeing more people. At the same time, they are receiving fewer donations. It’s hard to see a quick end to this trend. Thanks to all who have graciously donated in the past. You are making a difference.

Rick White – Director of Social Services.

All food donations are welcome and greatly appreciated. We are always in need of dried beans, plain rice, pasta and canned vegetables.

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