Volunteer Spotlight: Ed
As National Volunteer Month draws to a close, we would like to highlight one long-time volunteer at the Plymouth corps: Ed. An active member at The Salvation Army in Plymouth for 17 years, Ed has been volunteering with Emergency Disaster Services for 16 of them.
Only one year after joining, the EDS Canteen pulled up at a picnic he was attending. The drivers invited him to join them, and the rest is history. Now his friends jokingly claim the “EDS” on the canteens stand for “Ed’s” due to his loyal contributions to the program.
Ed has many harrowing and heartwarming stories to tell about his time with EDS:
“I’ve been through many things: people dying, people displaced from their burning homes. Firemen that were overwhelmed with what was going on. Some of the things we do here in Michigan, because of the winters, we’ve had firemen come and their face shields were just frozen.”
He’s also been involved with search and rescue teams looking for lost children, and once even served coffee to a sniper who had been on a rooftop for six hours.
“He was masked so nobody could identify him. All you could see is a little spot of his eyes. But he couldn’t drink his coffee like that, so he said, ‘you guys look safe,’ and took his mask off.”
Another time, a man stepped into a basement flooded with three feet of water. He came to the canteen hopping on one foot to ask for new socks. So, the team invited him in the canteen and gave him a fresh pair. Ed says it was a “great blessing for him.”
* Ed aboard "Ed's" Canteen
When asked about the most rewarding thing about being involved with EDS, he responded:
“Being able to help people out, really. I’m a former Marine, fought in Vietnam, and I know what tragedy looks like. You don’t want that in your backyard. So you try to be as helpful as you can possibly be. Just take care of people.”
We are grateful for all our volunteers like Ed who help all year round. If you have been inspired by his story, there are plenty of opportunities to volunteer for the EDS team. Or if you would like to support The Salvation Army Great Lakes Division monetarily, you can also donate.