Nat’l Sal Army Week, Part VII: Love in disasters
National Salvation Army Week is May 9–15. To celebrate, The Salvation Army Northern Division will publish a special story every day of the event. Each story will highlight a topic or service that illustrates how The Salvation Army is Doing the Most Good® in Minnesota and North Dakota.
When you think of The Salvation Army serving during times of disaster, what do you envision?
Many people visualize staff and volunteers handing out hot meals, snacks, and water bottles from inside one of our mobile kitchens (pictured).
Yet that’s only half the story. Other volunteers, trained by The Salvation Army in emotional and spiritual care (ESC), can be found walking up and down the streets of communities devastated by floods, tornadoes, and other calamities. These volunteers’ only job is to offer prayer, comfort, and a listening ear to survivors and first responders – a practice The Salvation Army calls a “Ministry of Presence.”
“We walk into the neighborhoods, talk to people, listen to them, and try to cheer them up,” said 11-year ESC volunteer Desta Hunt (pictured) of Fergus Falls, Minn., who volunteers with her husband at Salvation Army disaster relief efforts across the nation. She is pictured comforting a flood survivor whose home in Iowa had been submerged in five feet of water.
“We show Christ’s love,” Hunt continued. “But we don’t proselytize – we’re not out to convert anybody. …We are a ministry of presence.”
ESC volunteers like Hunt serve in Minnesota, North Dakota, and all around the world. Example: As you read this, ESC volunteers are comforting fire survivors in the Alberta, Canada city of Fort McMurray, where wildfires have destroyed 20 percent of the homes in the 80,000-person city (learn more).
Two more examples:
- On this date a year ago, ESC volunteers were comforting earthquake survivors in Nepal (pictured). Salvation Army disaster teams are still there, continuing their long-term response to the April 2015 disaster that killed more than 8,000 people and destroyed about 700,000 dwellings.
- On this date 110 years ago, the very first ESC volunteers were in California comforting many of the 225,000 people made homeless by the Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906 – the very disaster that spawned The Salvation Army’s disaster services division. These old-time Salvation Army personnel “were part of the resilience that brought the City back to life in 1906,” according to a newsletter produced by San Francisco City Guides, a history nonprofit.
The Salvation Army is always looking for new disaster volunteers in Minnesota and North Dakota to serve meals, provide emotional and spiritual care, and more. While most disaster volunteers typically serve in their communities at fires or police calls, some are occasionally deployed to serve at large-scale disasters across the nation.
Upcoming training classes in the Twin Cities are scheduled for June, August and September (view schedule and course descriptions). For more information call 651-746-3483.
To learn more about becoming a disaster volunteer in your community outside of the Twin Cities, please contact your local Salvation Army in North Dakota or Greater Minnesota.
War stories
The stories and video below offer a taste of the heroic or heartbreaking sights our disaster volunteers have witnessed while serving in Minnesota, North Dakota, and beyond.
High-profile disasters: Longtime Salvation Army volunteer Jim Daly (pictured) recalls serving at 9/11, the 35W Bridge collapse, and other historic disasters during the past 16 years. Daly was recently named Lifetime Volunteer of the Year by The Salvation Army Central Territory, which includes 11 Midwestern States.
Beyond belief: Emotional and spiritual care volunteers Tom Brustad and Patrice O’Reilly were astonished by what they saw in Oklahoma when they were deployed there from Minnesota to spend two weeks serving tornado survivors.
Comforting first responders: Survivors aren’t the only people who need comfort in times of disaster. First responders do, too. This story, about a building collapse in St. Paul, explains why.
Service in action: Watch disaster volunteers serve residents of International Falls, Minn., scrambling to save their community from flooding.
Please join us during National Salvation Army Week by volunteering or making a donation to support your local community.