Charity Begins at Home
After months of quarantine and stay-at-home orders, most Hoosiers are tired of staring at the same four walls. Others consider it a miracle that they still have a place to call home. In Jackson County, Indiana, the need has been so great that The Salvation Army’s Service Extension financial assistance budget was exhausted by October.
Even after five years of volunteering for The Salvation Army, Kendall Lambring was still surprised to see just how many people needed help in order to get through the pandemic.
“At the beginning of all this, people were needing assistance with anything and everything,” Kendall recalls. “Rent was the main concern because not all landlords were following the moratorium order where residents couldn’t be evicted. Some people didn’t have official leases, so the moratorium didn’t apply. We provided a lot of resources and referrals to help educate them on what was happening.”
Kendall received a steady stream of calls from people whose struggles were exacerbated by the pandemic. One mother was going through a divorce while trying to care for the two special needs boys she had adopted. Finding work to support their small family was taking time with so many closures, so the funds she received from The Salvation Army helped to keep them in a rental home until she could secure a steady income.
Another call came from a local resident who was battling cancer. She’d worked until her declining health and subsequent operation had sent her home with no income to pay her rent. Kendall provided the landlord with $400 to ensure that the client could be part of a payment plan. New funding that came later in the fall helped a woman who was the sole provider for her family. She had recently switched jobs and taken a pay cut in order to take care of her disabled husband, but couldn't make her family's rent payment.
“It’s been eye-opening seeing how many people in our community are in need,” shares Kendall. We thank God that for every person who comes to The Salvation Army for help, there are people like you who are ready and willing to support our efforts. Thank you for your generosity.