Salvation Army faces shortage of volunteers

http://www.bangornews.com/news/templates/?a=104203&z=175

~snip~

HOULTON - While area residents clean up from their Thanksgiving feasts today and plot out their shopping trips for tomorrow, they most likely will be ready for the sight of shoppers wielding massive packages and parking lots full to the brim. But a familiar holiday sight - the bell-ringing Salvation Army volunteer next to a red kettle - may be missing this year.


The reason? The agency can't seem to find enough volunteers to help this year, according to, Capt. Paul Knickerbocker of The Salvation Army in Houlton.

"We run completely on volunteers, and things seem to be especially slow in terms of people signing up to help this year," he said Wednesday. "We are having problems in Houlton and Presque Isle, especially."

Each year, the Salvation Army stations volunteers at specific locations alongside the charity kettles. Shoppers and pedestrians who put money in the containers contribute up to 40 percent of the organization's annual income to help the needy.

... cry me a river anti-Gay bigots! :nopity:

they are actively anti-gay and over-religious.

i could care less about them. better another group with compassion toward all get the resources and volunteers.

community service to help. Business as usual.

Otherwise, most of the people the salvation army will be seeing for the next 4 years will be on the other side, the side that needs food and shelter because Bush policies screwed them so bad.

They can take their hatred of Gays and Lesbians elsewhere!

Read more into the thread... now I know.

You proclaim to the world that you're a bigot... and soon people start avoiding you.

Imagine that.

but I own a small business and the salvation army always asks me for lots of donations this time of year. They ask for things like snacks and sodas for various gatherings they have during the holidays. I'm thinking about telling them that I cannot with a clear conscious support any religious type organizations because of the role they played in doing real harm to the country and the world. The other part of me keeps imagining some poor little kid who has to drink kool-ade instead of soda. Course now that I've just reread that last sentence, I'm thinking maybe drinking kool-ade instead of soda is a small price to pay if it means that people are taking a stand that may ultimately keep you from being drafted! I dunno...

Something not "faith-based"?

or soup kitchen. I do often in my city and can actually see the good work done with my money!

It's got just as much sugar and artificial flavoring, and none of that carbonation that will eat up their digestive system.

Don't give it a second thought, from one whose kids have been there. Lots of groups do events for kids, call the welfare office and ask. Domestic violence shelters, foster kids, veteran's kids, all kinds of places.

a lot of nerves to take a stand, but think about this, over a year or so I remember reading in the NYTs that someone had died and willed them 50million or so. Maybe that will stiffen your spine.

People are always assuming because we are operated by the city that we have lots of money for programming. In reality we have a tight budget that is getting tighter all the time. We serve low income people, we have a ton of participants and we are non secular. See if your city has a recreation center and donate to them. If it's like my center, it will be greatly appreciated.

eom

:party::smoke::party:):):)

I love them but I think people have gotten very cynical these days for good reason!!!

back in the 80's, my mother worked at a SA church in CO. The people were great (at the local level), but very "Corporate" attitude higher up. Oh, for the good old days.....

Lack of armor plating for donation kettles seen as impediment.

and I saw no anti-gay bigotry there. Far from it--about a third of the kids were not runaways, but "throwaways," kids who had been thrown out or abandoned by their parents, mostly for being gay.

Part of what the SA officers and staff did was mediate between the kids and their clueless parents, trying to get the parents to take their kids back and trying to convince the parents that their child would always be gay, no matter what rewards or punishments they offered.

No matter what their official doctrine is, the SA people I saw in actual contact with gay and lesbian kids were warm and friendly. In four years of volunteering there every Tuesday, I never saw any evidence that gay and straight kids were treated differently.

The drop-in center had rules about "leaving the street behind." In practice, this meant no weapons, no sex talk or sexual behavior, no drug talk or drug taking. Anybody who broke the rule was asked to leave, but the rules applied equally to gay or straight sex.

They held an informal worship service on Sunday mornings, but no one was required to attend to get food or clothing or medical care or tutoring for the GED.

I DO continue to contribute to the Salvation Army, because I saw them help street youth turn their lives around, and I know that for over a hundred years they have been devoted to working with the type of people that most of us high and mighty middle class types cross the street to avoid.

wars on poverty, minorities, Iraq, terrorism, women, men, schools. ect.

Maybe they can change thier name to the Salvation Sissies :)

"Army" has a bad connotation these days, IMO.

Oh, and yeah, when they come out as GLBT haters, and Gay-marriage bashers, that sure doesnt help them either.

Let the "compassionate conservatives" with their big tax breaks fill their damn kettles. I am saving my money for the Bush Administration's coming depression.

spending lavishly on themselves. Seriously. b

Here in this city, they were running an old folks home and the staff was reasonably well paid union members. They fired them all and rehired entirely new staff so that they could get away with lower wages.

They also take donations away from the food bank by advertising that they are giving out food hampers... they give out only ONE hamper a year.

They price their thrift stores as if they were antique stores, charging way too much for donated items so that the poor can't afford it anyhow, skimming off the best for their officers who drive around in fancy cars and live in big fancy houses.

I feel sorry for the volunteers and there is no point on saying anything to them about it. But I'm going to drop notes into their kettles explaining why I will not give them money. Many people in this city feel the same way, their donations have dropped considerably since they busted the union.

Go here:

http://www.soulforce.org/main/kettlevoucher.shtml

and click on the .pdf voucher link.

I can't copy and paste it but it says:

"This holiday season I am supporting organizations that do not discriminate in any way against people based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other reason.

I will NOT donate to the Salvation Army, and will instead give to other charities, until the Salvation Army stops discriminating against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community in hiring, firing and promotion, and in the provision of benefits."

It also has a quote from a senior official with the SA. There are three vouchers to a page, so you can print them out, cut them and have them waiting in your pocket or purse for the next time you hear that bell ringing.

Faith-based government funding. The perception (true or not) that religious charities are getting government money and therefore don't need volunteers or donations. See a wonderful book, The Churching of America.

What did they do? They were one of the most important and helpful organizations in NY during 9/11. They also are running a huge program to get people turkey dinners in NY if they want one. I dont get why I should hate them.

....they do good work otherwise.

Union busting, greed, etc...