On December 8th from 10 AM until 10 AM on December 9th I will be at The Salvation Army Christmas Angel Telethon hosted by Living Ministries to help supplement the budget cuts that leave their ever growing ministry struggling to meet the needs of the community.
I have received help from the Salvation Army a few times in my youth with my birth mom. She died when I was 13. They brought us a full blown turkey dinner and also a Christmas dinner that included presents for me as a kid. They also paid for me to go to a camp in Spokane Washington when I was a young girl. I enjoyed the camp a lot. I am sure there are countless numbers of us who have been aided by this organization. They have after all been around for a 100 years and they are still helping. They have many great programs that help people find balance and structure in their lives when devastating things happen. They help war torn countries find freedom by helping them come to America legally. I just learned this recently from my caregiver from Russia. They send children to camps to help them realize their value, learn new skills, and show them joy and share treats with them when they normally wouldn’t have those experiences at home. I was one of those kids. My mom was a single mom who worked a lot and we didn’t have a lot of money, and the Salvation Army helped us out a few times. At the camp I went to, I learned how to cook on a coffee can stove; we made French toast for breakfast. I learned how to shoot a bow and arrow, and I learned how to make a camp fire, on top of learning how to swim. After my drowning incident at age 6 at the YMCA I was not too keen to swim in the water, but I remember the counselor who encouraged me to face my fear and do it. He promised to jump in if I got into trouble. That helped me later in life when I had to go back to the same swimming pool I drowned at 6 and do water rehabilitation. Way before they built the fancy pool they have now. Facing fears and challenges is one key element of what the Salvation Army stands for, at least it was for me. I believe it is helping me now face my fears with my health and illness. I do not remember the counselor’s name, but I remember his face and his encouraging smile and eyes.
If you are able to spare some change, give it to the bell ringers. It does help, if you can donate a little more and want to contribute the website for the telethon is below. All proceeds go to the Salvation Army and they will work wisely with the money to help those who need it in our communities. After all, if you think about it, if they weren’t wise Stewarts they wouldn’t have lasted this long and have had such an impact on our lives. And if you are a band, comedian, singer, or just want to dance come to the telethon. Donate your time and effort, it is a worthy cause.
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