The FAMCare Blog

Congratulations Salvation Army!

Posted by George Ritacco on Nov 3, 2015 3:44:00 PM

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Every year, 25,000 Christmas time charity bell-ringers remind us that the Salvation Army is still out there doing its work after 150 years. Few people, however, realize the scope of the work that is being done by “men and women whose hearts burst with a passion for the impossible.”

 150 YEAR ANNIVERSARY 

“God Loves with a great love the man whose heart is bursting with a passion for the impossible.” 

-William Booth, 1865 

A BRIEF HISTORY 

This month’s social work success story recognizes the 150 year anniversary of The Salvation Army. The movement was started by pioneers William and Catherine Booth in the East End of London in 1865 and was so named because William organized the movement like an army doing battle against poverty and deprivation. 

To put this historic event in perspective, in 1865 the civil war was still raging in the US; Abraham Lincoln was assassinated; Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House; English surgeon Joseph Lister performed the first antiseptic surgery; Mark Twain, Lewis Carroll, and Tolstoy published their first books; MIT was founded in Massachusetts; and Congress passed the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery in the United States. 

William and Catherine Booth were devoted Christians who believed the only proper expression of faith was to help those in need around them. A true radical in his time, William fervently held that charity demeaned the individual and that people should be offered a hand up not hand-outs to get them back on their feet. 

Catherine, the first radical feminist, was a strong proponent of equality for women and fought William to allow women to preach in church meetings along with the men. In 1884, Catherine opened the first women’s rescue home in Whitechapel for those fleeing domestic violence.

Believing in the rights of workers, the Salvation Army opened its own match factory in Old Ford, East London to employ workers at a fair and livable wage. The factory produced six million boxes a year and paid workers more than twice the going factory wage of the time. 

THE ARMY TODAY 

Still based in London 150 years later, the Salvation Army has branches in more than 126 countries. The Army operates evangelical centers, hospitals, emergency and disaster services, alcohol and drug rehabilitation programs, community centers, social work centers, secondhand stores, and recreation facilities. 

In the USA, The Salvation Army is the only charitable organization that offers services in every ZIP code, serves more than 58.4 million meals per year, and provides 10.8 million nights of shelter per year. It also assists more than 200,000 people annually in 142 rehabilitation facilities. 

The Salvation Army helps more than 30 million Americans annually, with 3.5 million volunteers and 7,500 centers of operation. That includes 1,232 thrift shops, whose proceeds fully fund the largest free, in-residence drug and alcohol rehab program in the United States. 

CONGRATULATIONS

Every year, 25,000 Christmas time charity bell-ringers remind us that the Salvation Army is still out there doing its work after 150 years. Few people, however, realize the scope of the work that is being done by “men and women whose hearts burst with a passion for the impossible.”

Topics: Social Services Industry News

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