Celebrating National Social Work Month: Social Services Workers Do Good
A man who struggles with mental health is given help cleaning out a storage unit; a veteran who finds a place to stay also finds a community of faith. These are two of the many acts of kindness offered by social services employees at The Salvation Army Omaha.
The organization is rooted in good works as part of its mission — among the first means of assistance in the 19th century were rescue homes, hospitals and soup kitchens.
Today, thousands of people are employed in social services at branches of The Salvation Army across the United States, 109 of whom work in Omaha’s social services division.
These employees connect clients to resources for necessities such as food and clothing as well as other types of assistance specific to their areas. In Omaha, that includes behavioral health support and medication management.
“We have a wide variety of what we do here,” said Ryan LeGrande, the Omaha Social Services director. “We serve our Early Head Start, we serve pregnant moms. We have two housing programs.”
His staff works hard, sometimes round the clock, to provide relief and care to those who need it most. While much of their work involves visiting with clients face-to-face, LeGrande said they also perform many jobs people don’t realize.
“There’s a lot of small things,” LeGrande said. “Our housekeeping staff is very good, but it’s small — three or four people. A lot of times our (social services) staff will go clean an apartment after someone moves out so it is ready to be moved into right away. They will get cars taken care of promptly so they are available when they need to drive someone to the pantry.”
These front-line employees work tirelessly for the good of the organization, often putting others’ needs before their own. LeGrande said he often encourages and reminds his staff to also take care of themselves, continuing that he has a lot of respect for the way his employees work with those in need.
“Jamie Townsend is one of our community support case managers,” LeGrande said. “She has a man who has been struggling, but she’s just so patient with him. She handles him with grace, with empathy. He’s had a storage unit that he was reluctant to clean out, but through building a relationship with him, Jamie’s gotten him to get some of (the clutter) managed.”
LeGrande also mentioned his staff has started a liturgical session in the Lyle Apartments, which house the Intensive Community Support and VA programs. “We have about 40 clients. One of the social services workers down there has started doing weekly devotions. It’s open, so nobody’s required to attend, but they are getting 10-15 people to come each week.”
March is National Social Work month, and The Salvation Army Omaha encourages people to say hello and thank these employees for their constant work to do the most good.