NEWS
A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2019
Salvation Army, Fellowship of Christian Athletes caught in controversy
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Bell ringers with red ket-
tles collecting donations for
The Salvation Army are a
classic sign that the holidays
have arrived, but for some,
the choice about whether
to drop in a few dollars has
become as political as it is
personal.
The religious nonprofi t,
which describes itself as the
“largest social services pro-
vider in the world,” has made
headlines recently as the
fast-food restaurant chain
Chick-fi l-A announced it
would be changing its chari-
table giving strategy.
Salvation Army and the
Fellowship of Christian Ath-
letes, which also has local
chapters in Umatilla and
Morrow counties, will no
longer be receiving funds
from the restaurant’s chari-
table foundation.
“Staying true to its mis-
sion of nourishing the poten-
tial in every child, the Chick-
fi l-A Foundation will deepen
its giving to a smaller num-
ber of organizations work-
ing exclusively in the areas
of education, homelessness
and hunger,” the restaurant
said.
Many have speculated
that The Salvation Army
and Fellowship of Christian
Athletes were among those
that didn’t make the cut
because both organizations
have come under fi re from
activists who say they dis-
criminate against members
of the LGBTQ community.
Chick-fi l-A itself has also
been boycotted by LGBTQ
groups for its founder’s
stance against gay marriage
and for donations to organi-
zations considered anti-gay.
Pendleton
Salvation
Army staff directed ques-
tions on the subject to Alexa
Morris, director of commu-
nications for the Cascades
region of The Salvation
Army. She said the organi-
zation does not turn away
people in need of services
based on sexual orientation
HH fi le photo
A Pendleton resident drops a donation into a Salvation Army
bell ringer’s donation bucket outside of the Bi-Mart in 2018.
The religious nonprofi t has made headlines recently as the
fast-food restaurant chain Chick-fi l-A announced it would
be changing its charitable giving strategy. Salvation Army
and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, which also has local
chapters in Umatilla and Morrow counties, will no longer be
receiving funds from the restaurant’s charitable foundation.
or gender identity.
“We serve everyone and
anyone who comes through
our doors,” she said.
Posts that have circu-
lated on social media in
recent years tell stories —
often anonymously — of
discrimination at the hands
of Salvation Army employ-
ees and volunteers, claiming
they have made derogatory
comments, turned transgen-
der people away from shel-
ters if they were not willing
to sleep in areas accord-
ing to their assigned sex at
birth, or required homosex-
ual couples to sleep in sep-
arate areas while allowing
heterosexual couples to stay
together.
Critics also point to the
Salvation Army’s religious
doctrine requiring celibacy
outside of marriage and
restricting the defi nition of
marriage to between a man
and a woman. In 2015, the
magazine Queerty pub-
lished internal documents
from Salvation Army direct-
ing offi cers to decline to per-
form same-sex marriages.
Today, The Salvation
Army’s website has a sec-
tion dedicated to dispelling
what it calls “myths” about
its treatment of LGBTQ
people, stating that it does
not discriminate in hiring
or providing services, such
as emergency shelter. The
organization points to its
practice of hiring openly
gay employees and that it
offers the same benefi ts to
employees in same-sex mar-
riages as it does to all mar-
ried employees.
The organization states
due to homophobia, youth
who identify as LGBTQ are
more likely to be homeless,
making up as much as 40%
of the country’s homeless
youth population. The Sal-
vation Army assists them
with food, clothing, shelter
and counseling resources.
“We serve more than
23 million individuals a
year, including those in the
LGBTQ+ community. In
fact, we believe we are the
largest provider of poverty
relief to the LGBTQ+ popu-
lation,” The Salvation Army
said in a statement respond-
ing to Chick-fi l-A’s decision
to not donate to the organi-
zation in 2020. “When mis-
information is perpetuated
without fact, our ability to
serve those in need, regard-
less of sexual orientation,
gender identity, religion or
any other factor, is at risk.”
Morris said all dona-
tions made to red kettles
and events, such as The
Salvation Army’s red ket-
tle kickoff fundraising din-
ner, stay locally, supporting
programs like meals for the
homeless that The Salvation
Army provides in Pendle-
ton six days a week. Even
if someone makes an online
donation, the money stays
within the ZIP code asso-
ciated with the credit card
used to pay.
“You’re able to give right
in your community,” she
said.
Morris said a volunteer
bell ringer will on average
bring in enough money in
one hour to pay for 13 meals
for a homeless member of
their community. Major
DeWayne Hallstad of the
Pendleton Salvation Army
told the Hermiston Herald
earlier this year there were
73 people at a meal the pre-
vious day.
“We urge the public to
seek the truth before rush-
ing to ill-informed judg-
ment and greatly appreciate
those partners and donors
who ensure that anyone who
needs our help feels safe
and comfortable to come
through our doors,” The
Salvation Army stated.
In 2019, Chick-fi l-A
donated $115,000 to The
Salvation Army for its
Angel Tree program, which
provides Christmas gifts for
children, and $1.65 million
to the Fellowship of Chris-
tian Athletes to pay for
underprivileged youths to
attend sports camps at his-
torically black universities,
such as Morehouse College.
Rod Bragato of Herm-
iston, who supervises the
Umatilla and Morrow
County chapter of the Fel-
lowship of Christian Ath-
letes, said the money Chick-
fi l-A has donated to the
organization in the past has
stayed on the other side of
the country and not been
used to fund programs
locally.
“The issue is really irrele-
vant to us,” he said.
Locally, the FCA offers
optional religious devo-
tionals to student athletes
after practices, hosts athletic
activities, such as broom
hockey, and offers weekend
camps. Bragato said they
serve about 300 students on
a weekly basis.
The organization has
been criticized for the
“statement of faith” on its
website, which says, in part,
that sexual relations should
only happen within mar-
riage and that marriage is
“exclusively the union of
one man and one woman”
and that leaders must agree
to follow teachings on sex-
ual purity.
Bragato said despite the
national organization’s reli-
gious beliefs, local students
are never turned away for
being LGBTQ and he has
not been instructed by the
organization to do so.
“Anyone can come,” he
said. “I don’t think anyone is
discriminated against.”
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