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This Army helps fight off despair
By Cynthia Whitfield
Of the Emerald
Salvation Army members do more than stand on street
corners during the Christmas season, ringing bells to collect
donations. The organization works with the poor and the tem
porarily needy all year, providing a wide variety of programs
and services.
Lane County Family Services director Brad Smith says
most people still think of the Salvation Army as an organiza
tion devoted to helping alcoholics. “We do see a lot of
alcoholics, but we help lots of other people too.”
Family Services, the largest Salvation Army branch, pro
vides emergency food, furniture, clothing, medication and
fuel to people needing short-term crisis help.
The League Of Mercy visits nursing homes and provides
Christmas gifts for prison inmates. Dozens of poor children
are sent to a free summer camp near Portland each summer.
The army even dabbles into detective work by providing a
missing persons service dedicated to locating missing loved
ones.
Salvation Army retail stores provide a major source of
funding for these programs, especially for the extensive Fami
ly Services program. The stores, located in Eugene and Spring
field, sell used clothing, furniture, and utensils.
Approximately half of the Family Services clients are
local residents. The rest are “just passing through,” Smith
says.
Smith says there are a variety of groups within the
homeless population, including the typical “hobo.” One fast
growing group of clients is the “new poor” — displaced
families living in their cars and moving around the country
looking for jobs, Smith said.
Transient single women form another burgeoning
subgroup. “Used to be you didn’t see any,” Smith said.
Other typical clients include women and children in need
of food or clothing, migrant farm workers, newly released
prison inmates, senior citizens, abused women and children,
and the chronically mentally ill, Smith added.
Smith says the organization serves more mentally ill peo
ple than it used to. Beginning in the 1960s, there was a trend
toward deinstitutionalizing patients and using medication to
“manage” them instead. But a visit to the doctor once a
month isn’t enough for some people who may receive mon
thly checks but are unable to manage them, Smith says.
Last-stage alcoholics, who tend to avoid seeking medical
care, pose another problem. A man recently came to the
Family Services office complaining to Smith his leg was “giv
ing out.” Apparently, his leg had been set on fire by some
As Family Services director for the Salvation Army’s Lane
County chapter, Brad Smith is ready to assist people with
many special difficulties and needs.
Photo* by Steve Gibbon*
Salvation Army Capt. Benton Markham says that helping the
needy with life’s basic needs is necessary before they can
receive spiritual assistance.
boys in another town. The man hadn't seen a doctor, and
gangrene had begun to infest his leg. Smith says.
The army’s Lane County chapter is run by Capt. Benton
Markham, pastor of the Salvation Army church and director of
the social services ministry. Smith, who earned a degree in
psychology from the University, is a lay member of the
organization.
William Booth founded the Salvation Army in 1880. after
he noticed his own church did little to help the poor. “He
wanted to start a more aggressive program,” Markham says.
“He realized that before you can talk about spiritual condi
tions, you have to take care of basic needs.”
Clients are not required to worship at the Salvation Army
chapel or express religious sentiment. “If the people
themselves pursue it, we offer spiritual counseling. But we
don’t sit them down and give them a spiritual headlock,"
Smith says.
“Lots of things happen around here,” Smith adds.
“Recently, a man walked in with a stab wound in his back.
He’d gotten into some kind of fight. The guys group together
to protect each other, but there’s also the chance of running
across someone who wants your bedroll or something.”
A man in overalls approaches Smith’s desk. “Bedroll is a
tramp’s most important possession,” the man says.
The man shows Smith a piece of paper. “I got a ticket for
trespassing. These cops come up dressed like tramps. I was
hanging out in a lot full of empty cars, and they come over,"
he says.
Smith shakes his head in sympathy before giving the man
enough food to last for several days.
But because donations and store sales vary, the organiza
tion cannot always fill the demand for goods and services.
“It’s hard when you can’t help someone with a legitimate
need,” Markham says.
TINO’S
• Full dinner menu
• 23 varieties of Pizzas
• Whole wheat and
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-cooked and uncooked
15th and Willamette
New Hours:
Mon.-Thurs. 11 00-Midnight
Frl. 11:00-1:00 a.m.
Sat. 5 00-1 00 a m
Sun. 5:00-11 00 p m
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