Canada Salvation Army Canadian Salvation

Canada Salvation Army

Canadian Salvation Army

Historical Context

The Salvation Army was founded by William Booth, a Methodist minister. He started it as the Christian Mission in the East End of London, England, in 1865. (the Salvation Army, the history, 2007). Booth's philosophy was that "there is little point preaching 'salvation' to hungry people." (the Salvation Army, the history, 2007). In fact, according to Pastor Christopher Rideout, William Booth believed that there was no place for the poor in the church of his time. (C. Rideout, personal communication, January 8, 2008). He decided to follow John Wesley's example of reaching and getting involved with the community. (C. Rideout, personal communication, January 8, 2008). Therefore, he embraced the concept of feeding and helping the poor while preaching to them, a concept that became known as "soup and salvation." Even today, according to Pastor Rideout, "The Army takes a holistic approach to community development and aims to meet physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of marginalized individuals." (C. Rideout, personal communication, January 8, 2008). Though the organization was essentially a religious one, it took on an increasingly military structure, and its name was changed to the Salvation Army in 1878. (the Salvation Army, the history, 2007). The Salvation Army spread beyond England, going to the United States, and then to Canada.

The Salvation Army in Canada was founded in 1882, as an organization to provide aid to the country's poor. The first meetings began in January of that year and were led by British immigrants who had worked with the Salvation Army in England. By July of that year, Major Thomas Moore came from the U.S. headquarters of the Salvation Army to run the organization in Canada. In 1883, Canada was declared independent of the U.S. branch of the Salvation Army, and became responsible for its own governance. There was initially resistance to the Salvation Army in Canada, but its effective social programs eventually swayed public opinion. In 1909, parliament passed an act giving the Salvation Army legal standing.

The history of the Salvation Army is closely aligned with the history of women's rights. While the Salvation Army was founded by William Booth, his "wife, Catherine Mumford Booth, was also active in the new ministry... Catherine became convinced that women deserved an equal place in society, and, after some conflict, managed to convince her husband to allow her to join him in preaching." (Salvation Army, 2006). According to Pastor Rideout, it has always considered men and women as equals, and has welcomed women into the church. (C. Rideout, personal communication, January 8, 2008). In fact, women's role in the Salvation Army differed significantly from the role of women in other parts of Protestant society; instead of delegating women to the role of social housekeepers, "Salvationists believed sanctified women had an obligation to take to the streets in a the name of Jesus, precisely because they were the same as sanctified men." (Taiz, 1997). In fact, this type of gender equality was unknown in other religious organizations of that time, or by society in general. "By institutionalizing equality, the Salvation Army provided women with opportunities to hold positions of leadership that were unheard of in religious organizations of that period and well beyond." (Taiz, 1997). However, the women in the Salvation Army were not entirely free from prejudice; "they faced the constraints of Victorian gendered expectations related to private and public sphere ideology." (Rutherdale, 2005).

Issue the service attempts to address

From the beginning, the Salvation Army in Canada was dedicated to public service, focusing its efforts to help the impoverished, especially children. In 1890, the Salvation Army opened a Prison Gate Home in Toronto, helping men, and a children's shelter. It opened its first Maternity Home in 1898. The Salvation Army worked with the federal government to establish Canada's first prisoner parole program. (the Salvation Army, the history, 2007). The organization also began recycling and started its Thrift Store program. They also worked with the federal government to establish a juvenile detention center. Later, the Salvation Army opened a seniors' residence, homes for unmarried mothers, an anti-suicide bureau, victim assistance programs, witness assistance programs. Furthermore, according to Pastor Captain Christopher Rideout, while today's Salvation Army continues to address issues of poverty and homelessness, it has expanded its programs to include issues that are relevant in today's society, such as the sex trade. (C. Rideout, personal communication, January 8, 2008).

Today, the Canadian Salvation Army has become "the largest non-governmental direct provider of social services in the country." (the Salvation Army, the history, 2007). Its structure continues to resemble a hybrid of an army and a church. Today,

The Salvation Army has 1,000 active officers (clergy), over 21,000 soldiers (church members) and over 53,000 adherents; that is, people who claim the Army as their church home, but who are not formal members. There are over 320 corps (churches) and over 120 social service institutions of various kinds. As well as the many thousands of volunteers, almost 10,000 people are employed by the Salvation Army in the Canada and Bermuda Territory. Almost 40 Canadian officers and lay staff also serve overseas in countries from Papua New Guinea to South Africa. (the Salvation Army, the history, 2007).

Why it was developed

The overall goal of the Salvation Army is to help people, through God. According to Pastor Rideout, the organization's mandate is to enable people's lives, by providing the right tools. Moreover, they believed that change could not occur through institutions, but required that people get involved. (C. Rideout, personal communication, January 8, 2008). To better understand this goal, it helps to look at the organization's own stated values and goals. According to the Canadian Salvation Army's website, "The Salvation Army is an international Christian church. Its message is based on the Bible; its ministry is motivated by love for God and the needs of humanity." (the Salvation Army, Mission & values, 2007). It was developed as a means for Christians to put their faith into practice, but also as a means of more purposeful evangelicism. Surmising that people were much more willing to be converts if they had received assistance and experienced the benefits of a religion, firsthand, the Salvation Army demonstrates that behavior. It is a religion that not only preaches charity, but actively practices it.

Mandate of the service

The organization's mission statement is "The Salvation Army exists to share the love of Jesus Christ, meet human needs and be a transforming influence in the communities of our world." (the Salvation Army, Mission & values, 2007). Its core values include salvation, holiness, intimacy with God, compassion, respect, excellence, integrity, relevance, co-operation, and celebration. (the Salvation Army, Mission & values, 2007). According to Pastor Rideout, the modern Salvation Army has three main functions: church, thrift store, and family services. The thrift stores purpose is to provide funds for the social programs; "the monetary profits from the thrift store stays within the community and pays for the family services." (C. Rideout, personal communication, January 8, 2008).

Description of the service

Today, the Salvation Army offers a wide variety of social-services in Canada. These services are varied, and are tailored to respond to the needs of the community. The responsive nature of the Salvation Army is best demonstrated by its emergency and disaster services. Emergency and disaster services seek to alleviate some of the immediate impact of disasters on the public, by providing immediate relief. These emergency services can be for local emergencies, but they can also be international, such as providing aid for Hurricane Katrina. In addition, it provides family tracing services, which enable people to locate their families in the wake of nature disasters, or simply when one has a missing family member, and this service has been invaluable to people who are trying to locate family members in the wake of an emergency or a natural disaster.

The Salvation Army tries to aid people experiencing different types of crises; therefore, it provides assistance to the impoverished, such as providing clothing, food, housing, life skills training, and counseling. In fact, one of the Salvation Army's goals is to provide financially disadvantaged children with benefits. One way that they do that is to provide summer camps for children from marginalized communities. Another way that they do that is to provide services, such as meals and counseling, to homeless children.

Furthermore, aiding the homeless is one of the Salvation Army's biggest forms of outreach. "The Salvation Army provides 5,000 shelter beds for the homeless each night through a national network of 50 shelters and hostels, making it the single largest provider of shelter services in Canada." (the Salvation Army, Programs and services, 2007). It provides these services to people who are homeless for a variety of reasons. For example, it provides services to the chronically impoverished. However, people also find themselves homeless due to domestic violence or substance abuse issues, and the Salvation Army assists them in finding affordable housing or shelter while they are experiencing such a crises.

Poverty is only one of the social issues addressed by the Salvation Army, which also tackles broader-scale social issues. For example, the Salvation Army helps people cope with addictions. In addition, it assists people who are victims of family violence, generally women and children. It also provides hospice care for the dying and their loved ones. The Salvation Army also assists people with special needs, such as those who are physically or emotionally disabled. They do this by providing "counseling, on-site job coaching, work adjustment training, and other life skills programs." (the Salvation Army, Programs and services, 2007). The Salvation Army works to help people who are already in turmoil, by proving services to people who have been incarcerated, and their families. The Salvation Army also tries to help prevent people from developing problems; it provides resources for pregnant and parenting teenagers, including housing, support, education, parenting programs, and child care.

Statistics

In 2006-2007, the Canadian Salvation Army helped 1.5 million people. It provided "6,300 shelter, addictions, detox and mental health beds provided each night for vulnerable men, women and families." (the Salvation Army Public Relations and Development, 2007). In addition, it served 2.1 million meals to people in need. (the Salvation Army Public Relations and Development, 2007). 900 people completed the Salvation Army's addictions and rehabilitation programs. (the Salvation Army Public Relations and Development, 2007).

The Salvation Army had 320 community churches, and those churches assisted 994,000 persons with food, clothing or practical assistance. (the Salvation Army Public Relations and Development, 2007). The Salvation Army assisted 8,900 people with disaster assistance. (the Salvation Army Public Relations and Development, 2007). It sent 8,000 children to its Salvation Army camps. (the Salvation Army Public Relations and Development, 2007). It provided 470 hospital beds, as well as 1,500 long-term care and supportive housing beds and 60 hospice beds. (the Salvation Army Public Relations and Development, 2007). The Canadian Salvation Army also worked abroad; it had 140 projects in 9 countries, and sponsored 2,700 children. (the Salvation Army Public Relations and Development, 2007).

Who uses the service

Not surprisingly, given that the Salvation Army battles poverty, most of their clients are poor. However, according to Pastor Rideout, it is difficult to categorize the clients, because they come from all walks of life. Instead, he would characterize them as:

The working poor. Eighty percent live from pay check to pay check. Take that away for one month and you are in trouble. This could be due to a divorce, death, disability, sickness. Never one class of people, all walks of life. Homelessness is a hard definition; the number one problem is affordable housing. The Salvation Army will find a safe house for a woman or a man, and free food for one month. (C. Rideout, personal communication, January 8, 2008).

One of the misconceptions about the Salvation Army stems from its religious basis; some people believe that only members of the Salvation Army can receive assistance from them. However, the Salvation Army offers assistance to people who need the help, regardless of religious affiliation. Furthermore, the Salvation Army does not provide assistance in order to be evangelical; while they try to provide their clients with the opportunity to choose religion, they do not force anyone to convert. Its non-discriminatory practices are not limited to religious orientation. On the contrary, the Salvation Army strives to assist people who are disenfranchised, which means that they may help homosexuals or members of any race.

The range of clients means that they are there for many different reasons. Some people need to use the Salvation Army's resources because of emergencies that impact their lives, such as natural disasters or the sudden and unexpected loss of a job. "When such an event happens, the Salvation Army is there to help. There are others, of course, who have fallen on hard times because they have been unable to take control of their own lives." (the Salvation Army, Frequently asked questions, 2007).

Furthermore, because so many of the Salvation Army's clients appear downtrodden and, perhaps, beyond help, there is a misconception that the Salvation Army only helps those who are beyond redemption. However, that thought is contrary to the Salvation Army's beliefs:

The Army believes that everyone has the capacity to determine a solution for their problems. A great many of our programs are directed at helping people turn their lives around. This could mean kicking a drug or alcohol habit. It could mean acquiring literacy skills to improve employment opportunities. It could mean finding housing so that children can be raised in a safe environment, and developing support networks in the community. (the Salvation Army, Frequently asked questions, 2007).

Challenges for clients

Just as there is no single profile of a Salvation Army client, there is not a single reason that clients have difficulty accessing services. Instead, the difficulties can often be linked to the very reason that the client needs to access services in the first place. For example, the Salvation Army provides addiction treatment services, but one of the problems associated with the treatment of addiction is the societal stigma attached to addiction. Many people are reluctant to seek help, because they fear that public acknowledgment of their addiction will create negative consequences in their lives. Therefore, they are concerned that seeking addiction treatment services through a well-known organization like the Salvation Army will result in a loss of privacy or confidentiality. The same holds true for people seeking assistance for other socially negative issues, like teenage pregnancy, domestic violence, or suicidal ideations. Of course, addicts face an additional challenge when seeking service; their addictions actively drive them to avoid help and treatment, and make a relapse normal behavior.

For those clients who seek assistance because they are impoverished, the biggest challenge may be pride and perceived issues of personal respect. It can be very difficult to ask anyone for help, and then to be asked to meet certain requirements before being eligible for that help. In addition, even when a person seeks help, the fact is that the demand is much greater than the supply. Clients can get extremely frustrated with waiting lists for services, and the waiting can actually exacerbate the underlying problem. An addict does not need help when space becomes available, but immediately. Likewise, a homeless person who is waiting for affordable housing is still a homeless person. For those clients who feel that asking for help has compromised their self-respect and dignity, it can be doubly frustrating to encounter a waiting list once one has broken through the personal barriers to asking for such help.

Challenges for service providers

The organization also faces substantial barriers to delivering services to their clients. First and foremost, the largest barrier is that the demand is simply greater than the supply, which means that the Salvation Army can either provide less-than-an-optimal level of help to each person, or it can provide the degree of help needed, but help fewer people. Neither solution is optimal. Pastor Rideout discussed the problems faced by his local Salvation Army branch:

The food bank, not always enough food to go around. The other food bank that is available is Mamma Food Bank; however it is not affiliated with the Salvation Army and therefore does not share inventory nor work together in helping the hungry. The minimum wage provided by the government is not sufficient. Must raise the amount in order for one to survive, not able to get ahead. The tourist price and the local price varies in the town of Bracebridge, Ontario Canada. The tourist town is very expensive to live in and prices are higher for the tourist. There is nothing for the youth in this town; therefore they are on the streets. We want to create a coffee house so there is shelter and somewhere they can go and talk with other teenagers. (C. Rideout, personal communication, January 8, 2008).