December 12, 2024 • 30 mins
"During this holy season, the Salvation Army asks for your support as the number of children they serve in the Harrisburg area continues to increase." https://pa.salvationarmy.org/harrisburg-pa/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I am Sylvia Moss, and this is Insight, a
presentation of iHeartMedia where we really do care about our
local communities and all our listeners who live here. With
Christmas being just a little more than two weeks away,
you can be certain that there are thousands of kids
from all over Central PA who are counting each day
with plenty of excitement and anticipation, just waiting to see
(00:21):
what Santa's going to bring for them this year. And
then there are the parents, oh boy, those who are
running all over the place from store to store, hoping
to buy all the toys and games that Santa is
sure to deliver. Every kid out there waits for the
joy of Christmas all year long. But what if? What if,
as a parent or even a grandparent, you didn't have
the money to buy the child you love a Christmas present?
(00:43):
What if you had a hard time even providing them
with basic human needs. I think this doesn't happen in
your own back.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
We are well.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
As I've told you many times on this program, this
is one of those times when things aren't the way
you think they are. Just as Tony Linn Mark is
the Resource development director for the Salvation Army in Harrisburg
Capital City region. Nobody knows more about providing life necessities
for children and family here in central PA but Tony.
In fact, a board member, our dear friend, Anne Gallagher,
(01:15):
told me recently that this year alone, the Salvation Army
is going to be providing toys, clothing, and about I
think it's what food to more than five thousand kids
and fifteen hundred families in the Harrisburg area and Tony,
what you also said was that those numbers keep going
up and going up. Before we scot I think I
want this primarily this program to focus on what the
(01:39):
Salvation Army does for children, but you do actually provide
a lot for everybody out their family, seniors, everybody. But
I need to people to know when we talk about
kids and their basic human needs that aren't being met,
what are we talking about as far as basic human needs?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, well, thank you for having me. Absolutely it is.
It is tough. So I mean, we we work with
these families.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
We start working with these families all the way back
in October the accord to the end of September. October,
we're starting to get geared up for Christmas. And you know,
when people think about Christmas support. They think about like, oh,
Barbie's in a box and Superheroes in a box, and yeah,
sure that we put books and all, you know, games
and things like that. But we identify first with the
families and we say what do you need? And truly
(02:23):
they the list is long for what they need. And
sometimes by the time you get to what do you want,
they point right back to the need and they say, oh,
my coat, you know, bedding, a hat, gloves, you know,
pants that fit, shoes, and then you know, toys and
everything on top of it is great, but that's really
(02:46):
where they are.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Well, let me ask you this, where do they come from?
Do they just walk in the door? Are they referred?
What happens?
Speaker 3 (02:53):
So we do have an application process. We don't have
to advertise it much unfortunately, but you know, folks know
in the community that we offer this support. And like
I said in about October, we have an application and
they have to apply and then once that's done, they
come in for an interview. It's a lengthy process. I mean,
it's not easy to just get the support. They have
(03:16):
to come in, go through their application, finalize the application.
Then we get to know the family and we build
a profile for the kid, and we say, here, you know,
here's what the name of the child, here's what you know.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
This kid specifically needs.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
One of your major things that you do throughout the year.
I know about this, I've done about this for a
long time, is the toy drive. And you were talking
to me the other day and when we were talking
about this on the phone, that there's a bit of
an issue this year. There's a lot more kids that
you need to provide for, but you don't have the space.
And ended up going out and I got a lot
of donations because people here in central Pennsylvana are amazing,
(03:52):
but you had to go out now because of the
extra kids and spend the money, which you can't afford
really because you have to take it from other places.
So I think it was Annie that said to me
that the work that you've been doing there to get
this whole thing together has been kind of superhuman. Tell
us about that what's going on.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Yeah, So it is an incredible, incredible effort. But we
do by the by early November, about November one, we've
done with the interviews, we've worked with the families, and
at that point then we can distribute the information to
the donors and we try to get sponsors for every kid.
This year, we got close, but we still had around
(04:34):
four hundred kids that weren't sponsored.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
And then you know fill in.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
You know, someone says, oh, well, my company will sponsor
twenty with the only sponsor fifteen something like that, So
it's four hundred and definitely more that we just didn't
have sponsored. And from there we have to fill their
boxes because we promised them help and we're not going
to turn them away. So from there we rely on
toy drives, so, you know, company instead of sponsoring a
(05:01):
specific child that hold a toy drive, or we just
find really good deals anyway we can. We've got to
kind of expert shoppers on staff and they go out
and try to buy things. And I mean, we've got
a person who specializes in coats and she goes and
talks to the managers at calls and she says, no, no, no, no, no,
(05:21):
I need this coat for half of that cost, because
there are four hundred kids that aren't sponsored and they
need coats.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Yeah, So that's.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
How we get it done. But if it weren't for
the community supporting that, we would have to take those
funds from the food pantry. We'd have to take it
from after school program. We have to take it from
the summer program. We'd have to take it from the
case managers. We have to take it from the seniors program.
So we really rely on the community to fill those boxes.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Where are you right now with everything? We're a couple
of weeks out.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Yeah, so right now we've got three distributions. So in
the month of December, that's kind of crunch time, and
we lay the gym floor with over a thousand boxes.
We fill them all up with the stuff that the
sponsored kids have received. We pull the toys and fill
the boxes that weren't sponsored. We distribute it, and then
(06:13):
that afternoon we do an entire another distribution setup and
we put another over thousand boxes down, fill them all
up for a few days, close them up, distribute them.
Then the third time, lay over another thousand boxes again,
fill them all up, distribute, and then it is literally
a day or two before Christmas, and you know, we
(06:35):
sit down and take a deep breath.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Tell me what you need? You need volunteers, do you need, well,
certainly you need money.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Yeah, that's so I would say two things right now,
definitely dollars to help us buy those really good deals.
So when we see a good deal, we can take
it and we can say, yeah, we'll take that because
we know the kids need it and we can capitalize
on it. One area we always struggle, and especially this year.
You know, I always walk into the gym and I said,
where are we at? What are we struggling with teenagers?
(07:07):
Teenager boys?
Speaker 1 (07:08):
What do they want? Because I'm going to hit some
people up when.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
That's that's actually a great question. I think a lot
of us are struggling.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Well, yeah, I've got one of those, my grandson, So
I get it.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Now, we the teenage boys. People tend to adopt the
little kids, which is great. Were so appreciate, my goodness.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
That's a wonderful idea. It is for kids whose parents
may be listening to the program. Why can't the older
kids in school adopt one of these younger kids? You have?
Speaker 3 (07:37):
That's right, we need I mean, so for the older kids,
what we what do we try to fill their boxes
with their coats, shoes, hats, gloves, that's the basic needs stuff.
And then after that we're looking at like you know,
bluetooth headphones, Bluetooth speakers, footballs, basketballs. The girls will put
in like little makeup kids or lotions or bath and
(07:58):
body stuff. So you know, maybe with the boys it'll
be like a you know, gaming headset or something like that.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
So well, you have a list on your website.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Yep, so actually our websit's so easy.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Salvation Armyeharrisburg dot org on there is not only you
know how to get involved, but it is wish lists
for specific ages. And then what we're really looking for,
there's an Amazon registry. So all you have to do
is click the Amazon like and hit you know, ship
to Salvation Army, click pick a toy, pick a thing
on there, and ship it right to us. And I'm
(08:33):
telling you, especially for the teenagers. Right now, those boxes
are coming off the ups truck. They're walking into our
front door, they're walking right to the gym, and they're
going right in the boxes. I mean, it is like
an hour or two that that thing lives with us
before it gets put into a box for a kid.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
You know, I was thinking about ending the program today
with this, but I think this is a good time
to talk about it. Would you share one of those
stories talk about generous people in this community. If these
older gentlemen can do this, you can keep in a
couple bucks or get your kid. Tell your kid about this.
Can you share the stories about the gentleman with the
trucks and yeah, social Security?
Speaker 4 (09:10):
We h.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
I mean, we're very blessed that we've been in an
organization that's been supporting the community for a long time.
The Savage Army has had a presence in Harrisburg specifically
since eighteen eighty five, which means that we have a
handful of generations here who have received support and who
have been coming back to give back. And it is
truly the most humbling experience to see families, individuals come
(09:34):
back and say, yeah, you guys are the only reason
why I'm here. You're the only reason why I got
any support. So, you know, we were talking last week
and I shared that, you know, just at our Christmas
drop off, I had a woman come and she was
kind of shuffling these final bags together, putting them together,
put in the last things in the bags. I said,
you know, seems Spiel, thank you so much for coming.
(09:55):
We really really really appreciate this. And she stopped and
she looked up and see she said, this is the
first year, I haven't used your support, and so you know,
it really does show you that, like, not only does
this support help, but it meant so much that the
next year they're like, you know what, I don't care
if I've just scraunged together a couple of bucks, I
can make it this year, and I could buy a
(10:15):
couple of toys for somebody else. And then that gentleman
you're saying, oh story, Yeah, he was a guy that
came to us last year and he just said, you know,
he called me on a weekend and he said, can
I can you? Can you accommodate a couple a truckload
of toys? And I didn't know what to expect. And
I called him back and I said, we sure can.
(10:37):
And I didn't know if he meant a U haul
or a pickup truck or what, but you know, he
showed up and he told me his story, and he
said that his mom had passed away when she was
and he was just sorry his dad had passed away
when he was a child and it was just him
and his mom and was at a time where it
was really hard for a woman to be single and
(10:59):
work and ride. And that was only because of the
Salvation Army that he could have anything at all, and
so you know, he got he got emotional, and and
you know, he's like, you know, this is on my
bucket list. This is one of the final things I
needed to do. And I didn't really know what that meant.
Doesn't mean he's he's not well, doesn't mean he's not sick.
(11:20):
I don't I don't know, and he's not the gentleman
to open up in that way. And so you know, I'm,
you know, an emotional person myself. I'm like almost crying myself.
But you know, he gives the check and then he
tells me that he and his wife had been on
Social Security all year, but he knew this was something
he needed to do, and so he'd been pulling from
his social Security checks and he had had a pickup
(11:41):
truck full of toys and I hadn't heard from him.
I kept his his name and his phone number on
my on a post it note on my computer, and
I called him a couple of times through the year
and just let him knowing I'm thinking of you and
praying for you, and just hope you know you're doing
you know, I want to know you're doing okay. He
never called back, and I never knew that meant, and
I don't know if he passed away. I didn't know
(12:02):
if this was a one time thing. And just a
couple of weeks ago, sitting in my office and I
got a call from the front desk and they're like,
there's a guy out here to see you. We don't
know who he is. And I walked out there and
it was him and he said, can you take another truck?
Speaker 1 (12:18):
What a story.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
That's incredible. It really is incredible.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
And that just goes to show you taking money, saving
money from your social security when the biggest percentage of
people out there, older folks are living on nothing but
their social security and things are tough. Yep, what a story.
I think that's wonderful. You know, you had mentioned about
praying for people and part of what your mission has
(12:45):
always been is not discriminating and providing spiritual needs. You
still do that and tell us why?
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (12:55):
I mean we are a you know, faith based organization.
You know, this is our mission is to provide spiritual
services to those that you know are open and seeking
and interested in it. From a staff perspective, it you know,
motivates a lot of us. We look at our work
as a form of worship. In serving, we know that
(13:17):
you know, not to get onto a faith based here,
but okay, Jesus came to to serve, not to be served,
and it's our job to emulate him.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
And so.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
You know, our work is tiring and it's tough, but
it is the work we are put here to do.
And so the spiritual offering we have, we do have
church services on Sunday, we have spiritual counseling, is not
required to in any way to receive other support from us.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
But it turns a of a lot of lives around,
doesn't it. It's yours your faith in humankind too.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Absolutely, so you know, yeah, it's it's a It's something
we would love for people to participate in, but we
recognize individuals are different.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
We don't discriminate.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
We're not going to say you can't receive Christmas because
you're atheist, or maybe you don't do something that doesn't
allow or whatever. We're you know, we support anyone in
need without discrimination.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
That's wonderful. You know, when I talk to people about Salvation,
arc first thing they say to me is it's that
lady that's ringing the kettle or that guy that's ringing
the red kettle at Christmas time. But I don't think
people realize it isn't that the oldest annual charitable donation
event in the whole country. Probably that's oh my gosh,
what do you do with that money? Oh?
Speaker 3 (14:32):
That goes right back to our programs. I mean, especially
around Christmas, it goes right to our Christmas.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Is it a big fundraiser?
Speaker 2 (14:37):
It is. It's a pretty good.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
It brings in over one hundred thousand, fourth around one
hundred and forty thousand each year. We're all over the place.
But you know what I always tell people, it's not
just about the dollars that go in the kettle. Yes,
that's a huge deal. So please anybody who hears this
drop a dollar into the kettle.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Yeah, what's the lock? Yeah right.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
But what it also serves at for the Salvation Army
is a hey remember us, Hey don't forget to sponsor
that kid. Hey we're still here, We're still serving. And
it's just that reminder. I mean, so many folks when
they walk through carns or whatever it is, they go, oh,
that's right, the savage I got to go adopt that kid.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
What does it you're saying, you keep saying it. What
does it take to adopt a kid?
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Well, so we're close now because it's distribution times, so
it's tough to adopt them now. But in the month
of November, when you adopt a kid or you take
an angel tag or sponsor a kid or whatever it is,
it means you select your child.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
You select you know.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Do you know the story? Do you provide the story
of the child to them?
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Not the story?
Speaker 1 (15:36):
You know who the kid is that you're.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Getting, Just that you have the name, the age, and
then what they need and what they want.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
So you get a little tag.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
And so if you're like, you know a family and
you've got an eight year old boy and you know
a seven year old girl and you want to adopt
the same ages, that way your kids can go shop
and you know they know what it is they're looking
for to give the kids you can do.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
So what do you Is there a price you put
on and you provide?
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Do you guys?
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Just provide the basic human needs and the people who
would go and get the toys? How does that work?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (16:06):
So no, the donor gets everything from there. So we
typically try to say around you know, one hundred hundred
and fifty dollars a box. Inflation has been killing everybody.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
I can't imagine.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
It doesn't go as party where But and what we
ask for is that you take a look at the
kids tag you see what they need, see what they want,
make sure you provide an item that they need, an outfit,
a toy, and a stocking stuffer.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
When this all culminates, what happens when the kids get
their stuff? Oh my party? Or what do you do?
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Oh? No? So we have three distribution days where families
come through. I mean it is like a Chick fil
a parking lot experience. They drive through, they go, you know,
they sign in basically, and then they come they get
a meal voucher for a Christmas meal. And then they
come up and they park into a temporary spot and
then volunteers come out and bring out their boxes. And
(16:54):
that is I have three of the most rewarding days
every single year. It's those three distribution days.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Yeah, I think you called the TV stations come out
and film that.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Yeah, Well, we try to maintain though the respect because
some folks don't like to be on TV.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
That yeah, I can understand that that's true. Torue. We
mentioned the numbers keep on getting higher. I think it's
important to talk to people and people that don't want
to believe this. So many people are in denial. Thank
god they donate, but that it's not just the people
used to think that need that help. I mean the
(17:29):
way things are, people are now working two and three jobs.
It's difficult for everybody, but it can be. I know,
CEOs making lots of money, all of a sudden they
lost their jobs. Where they're gonna do? Can you talk
about that a little more so people understand this could
happen you anytime.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Yep, I mean that is so true.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
We see, yes, a lot of people who are facing
generational cycles of poverty that they are just very difficult
to break out of. But we also see people who
have just lost a job or some really common is
facing an unexpected illness, an unexpected layoffs. You know, their
kid got sick and there goes everything. Their husband died
(18:11):
and they were doing fine, but now stay at home
mom is without their husband and she's like, WHOA what
am I gonna do? We had a guy he I
don't think he received Christmas support but we had a
business owner come to us.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Gosh, I don't remember, maybe it was.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
A year ago now, and he had three kids, and
his wife left, and he had assumed that she had
been paying the bills and doing all the things.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
He was working.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
She was at home, and he assumed that she had
just been taking care of those things. And when she left,
he went from being an entrepreneur with his own business,
dude now having to shuffle all that it takes for
three kids. And then when his water was shut off,
he realized she hadn't been paying any of the bills.
And he came to us and he, you know, one
(19:02):
of the things we see people in crisis all the time,
So one of the things we knew to give him
was an emergency box with a package of wipes in it.
And he came back then for next you know, we
worked with him get his water on and everything else too.
But one of the things he came back and said
was I didn't know what I needed. I didn't realize
that those wipes probably gonna be the only way I
bathed my kids for a couple of days. And so,
(19:24):
I mean, he was doing fine. He was an entrepreneur
and was living and then Boom didn't realize. We see
that a lot. And in our food pantry too, we're
seeing you know, not just those that are working that
are in poverty and have been in poverty, but those
that are working who are now with inflation, having to say,
all right, I gotta choose it's rent or food, it's
(19:48):
medicine or daycare or it is you know, food or
actually being able to turn on my heat, and so
it's tough decisions.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Well, you know, I used to hear that stuff about
older people. Do I cat food or I'd pay for
my medicine? No, seriously, But now with whole families have
to do that definitely. But what would you tell them
to give them hope when they come in. It's possible
to turn this around, isn't it?
Speaker 4 (20:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (20:17):
It sure is.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
I mean, and everyone when they come in, it's people
are at varying stages and we want to first meet
that basic need. So if they come in to us
because their heat's turned off and it's about to be
thirty degrees tonight, like we're not going to talk to
you about jobs, We're not going to talk to you
long term stuff. We're going to make sure you get
your heat on. You know, if you come down and
your fridgers bear, we're going to fill your fridge first.
(20:38):
Then from there we sorry. All right, what's the long
term plan? Where are we going? What is your job?
What you know, what's your income and what are your costs?
Let's measure that out. Where's your discretionary spending, what's your
necessary spending? You know, how can we work to you know,
consolidate debt with you and and and work through some
(20:58):
of them. We'll get you enrolled in the work force
Development program so that you can you know, if your
ratio is off of your spending's up and your incomes down,
one thing has to give. Your income's got to go
up or your spending's got to go down. And so
you know, we can get you a better job. So
we're definitely pushing for self sufficiency as much as we can,
(21:20):
and we balance those two things. Basic needs self sufficiency,
basic needs self sufficiency all the time.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Can you give this idea how I know there's accountability
with your folks, but how it has changed there's somebody
sticks out in your mind. I mean when kids are
in that situation where they don't have food, eat, and
things like that they don't. It's embarrassing in school, kids
make fun of you. You're hungry. Kids don't get what
they need. What have you seen as far as changing lives?
(21:48):
Oh much sticks out to you. A couple of things
you've seen.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Yeah, I mean so, First of one of the big
things that I think people don't realize is help looks
like more than just food and utility systems and transportation
assistant at Christmas boxes. Help is uh, first and foremost,
a welcoming, non judgmental attitude towards someone and saying, look,
(22:12):
I don't care if you made a series of bad
decisions or if you know, you grew up like this
and you know nothing else.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
You're not there to judge all and you don't care.
I mean, that's not part of it.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
We just want to get you back.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
That limits people a lot because people think they can't
they can't know this about me.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Sure is.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
And it's just I mean, we see people who are
really in survival mode. They'll come into our lobby and
they're just so used to survival that like they just
you know, are kind of ready to just just just
fight and defend and take because they're scared and It's
like what we try to do is when they come in,
we say, hey, come on back, you want to fight here,
(22:53):
You're not judged, You're not judged.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
We just want to help you.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
And so after a lot of people to believe, isn't
it it is?
Speaker 3 (23:00):
It takes a minute. And so sometimes, you know, when
we get someone into a food pantry, we just want
to have a good experience in the food pantry because
if they come to the food pantry a couple of
times and they see all our volunteers are happy to
see them. Our case managers were saying hello, our food
pantry coordinator is like, what's your name? No, no, no, didn't
you have two kids? I thought you you know what,
maybe you need an extra thing eggs? You know. Then
(23:22):
that's the point where we can say, hey, did you
see that sign about the workforce development program or you
know what we've got? We noticed that you keep coming
in with a cart and you and you're wet, Like
could we get you a bus pass? You know, how
can we help you to get you to a better place?
And countless people, I mean, every time someone says like
(23:44):
I just don't know how I would have done it
without you.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Oh, my god, that's amazing. You know, there's a lot
more I like to talk to you about, but you
and I had talked about something. I think. It's so
so exciting because I've been hammering for years for this.
Talk to me about family school mad. I love it.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
So the Families Go Mad program is a new program
we're starting, and it is designed for families to get
kids volunteering. It's still early in the stages here, but
one of the things we hear is, you know, being
a mom to young kids myself, I understand the need,
but like, how do I get my kids involved? How
do I get my kids involved? I want my kids
(24:22):
to learn that the world is bigger than themselves, right,
So hearing that and also knowing that we need the
next generation of supporters to be aligned with the Salvation
Army in order to keep our mission alive. You know,
we started Families Go Mad, which is a volunteer opportunity
for families of kids that are you know, not eighteen,
(24:44):
sixteen years old that can find volunteer opportunities. We're looking
at middle school, elementary school, and the opportunity is not
just volunteer, it's also part a lesson for why. So
it's a short lesson and like why are we giving back?
What are we why are we even bothering? Why spend
resources on someone else? Like what's why not spend them
on ourselves? Why why are we thinking about others? And
(25:08):
then we move into all right, now we're gonna Now
we're gonna do it.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
And you know what, I've had that experience with my son,
with other children and they find out I can guarantee it.
They don't want to go. They have they've got important
work to do right in front of it with their
thumbs every day. They don't want to do that. But
when they get there and they do and they see
what they do, they are so excited because a lot
of teachers tell me there's a lot of self esteem
(25:34):
problems in school. This will take care of it. This
makes you feel like a million bucks.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
And it's humbling too, Like when we're having them put
hygiene kids together and they're putting two rolls of toilet
paper in a bag mm hmm with some soap, it's
like they start to see like wow, like really.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Wow, whence you get this up? And runner, we're gonna
have to do some work to get the get some
corporate sponsors on this one, because this is gonna be wonderful, Tony.
There have been a lot of changes. I've seen them.
I've been in Harrisburg a long long time and from
new buildings, locations, different services that have been added. What
(26:13):
has impressed you the most about about working for the
Salvation Army? Why do you do it? Oh?
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Gosh?
Speaker 3 (26:19):
I so I have been in development for a long time.
I'm on the you know, development fundraising, you know, outside
group of things. And I've always said that, you know,
fundraising is only hard when you don't really believe in
the mission. It's hard to sell something that you believe
in that you don't believe in. This is kind of
(26:41):
taking my Salvation Army hat off here for a second.
This is by far the most incredible organization, incredible steward
of resources I have ever seen in all of my career.
I have this. This team at the Salvation Army works
so hard. I mean, we have one person on the
team who will just get on you about printing in
color because she said, you don't understand donors pay for
(27:03):
this ink and if you're just printing in color or
spending money instead of in the food pantry. You know
we are. I've never seen a more dedicated staff to
stewarding dollars well and providing truly helpful support. Not just
here's a box of food, but here's food that we
(27:24):
know meets your you know, preferences. We have a community
garden outs that I've got thirty four raised garden beds
that allow us to grow our own produce. And yes,
we can grow more tomatoes, we can grow more cucumbers,
we can grow all the things that we would be
able to get at the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank or
from you know, grocery rescue. But we've instead said, hey,
you know what, let's look at the cultures of the
(27:45):
people that we're serving. What do they like to eat?
And so we're growing vegetables quite honestly, that I've never
heard of. But they're the people that we're serving, from
the countries where they're from, the cultures, the palettes that
they have, We're gonna grow them some things. So I've
just never seen a more dedicated staff who says, I
(28:07):
see you person, individual, I see you, I know what
you need, and I want to I want.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
To help Tony. You're amazing Tony and Lynnmark honesty, goodness.
Thank you so much for all that you do every
single day, even Saturday and Sunday. We help so many
people here in the cap the Harsburg Capital Region. One
more time, what's your website address?
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Oh, Salvation Army Harrisburg dot org. Go right over there. Yep.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
There's a reason that the Salvation Army is known as
the organizations that's doing the most good. Please please help
in any way you can, and watch out for that
Families Go Mad program.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Don't forget that. You can catch inside every Sunday in
our can iHeart stations or anytime in your favorite podcast step.
I'm Sylvia Moss. This has been insight Thanks so much
for listening. See you next week.
Speaker 5 (28:54):
It took me a long time to be able to
say Chandler has cancer because that is such a scary word.
Saint Jude takes care of absolutely everything, and knowing that
we don't have to pay for all of the medical expenses,
that's huge.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Saint Jude allowed me to focus on being a mom
to Bryce, and sometimes I'm just in awe of the
impact Saint Jude has not only on this community, but
the world.
Speaker 4 (29:21):
Saint Jude is uniquely positioned to advance the cures of
pediatric cancer. I think better than any other institution in
the world. The contributions make a big difference. Donors are
important to us because you get the feeling that you
have a team behind you. We have the resources, and
we have the focus. And so if Saint Jude doesn't
do it, who.
Speaker 5 (29:42):
Will Saint Jude Children's Research Hospital finding cures saving children.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Learn more at Saint Jude dot org. Hope Within Ministries
provides health, dentaline counseling services to low income residents of Lebanon, Lancaster,
and Dauphin counties. They need dennis, posicians and others to
volunteer their services just a few hours a month. For
more information on the ways that you can volunteer or donate,
go to hopew withthin dot org.
Hi, I am Sylvia Moss, and this is Insight, a
presentation of iHeartMedia where we really do care about our
local communities and all our listeners who live here. With
Christmas being just a little more than two weeks away,
you can be certain that there are thousands of kids
from all over Central PA who are counting each day
with plenty of excitement and anticipation, just waiting to see
(00:21):
what Santa's going to bring for them this year. And
then there are the parents, oh boy, those who are
running all over the place from store to store, hoping
to buy all the toys and games that Santa is
sure to deliver. Every kid out there waits for the
joy of Christmas all year long. But what if? What if,
as a parent or even a grandparent, you didn't have
the money to buy the child you love a Christmas present?
(00:43):
What if you had a hard time even providing them
with basic human needs. I think this doesn't happen in
your own back.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
We are well.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
As I've told you many times on this program, this
is one of those times when things aren't the way
you think they are. Just as Tony Linn Mark is
the Resource development director for the Salvation Army in Harrisburg
Capital City region. Nobody knows more about providing life necessities
for children and family here in central PA but Tony.
In fact, a board member, our dear friend, Anne Gallagher,
(01:15):
told me recently that this year alone, the Salvation Army
is going to be providing toys, clothing, and about I
think it's what food to more than five thousand kids
and fifteen hundred families in the Harrisburg area and Tony,
what you also said was that those numbers keep going
up and going up. Before we scot I think I
want this primarily this program to focus on what the
(01:39):
Salvation Army does for children, but you do actually provide
a lot for everybody out their family, seniors, everybody. But
I need to people to know when we talk about
kids and their basic human needs that aren't being met,
what are we talking about as far as basic human needs?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, well, thank you for having me. Absolutely it is.
It is tough. So I mean, we we work with
these families.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
We start working with these families all the way back
in October the accord to the end of September. October,
we're starting to get geared up for Christmas. And you know,
when people think about Christmas support. They think about like, oh,
Barbie's in a box and Superheroes in a box, and yeah,
sure that we put books and all, you know, games
and things like that. But we identify first with the
families and we say what do you need? And truly
(02:23):
they the list is long for what they need. And
sometimes by the time you get to what do you want,
they point right back to the need and they say, oh,
my coat, you know, bedding, a hat, gloves, you know,
pants that fit, shoes, and then you know, toys and
everything on top of it is great, but that's really
(02:46):
where they are.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Well, let me ask you this, where do they come from?
Do they just walk in the door? Are they referred?
What happens?
Speaker 3 (02:53):
So we do have an application process. We don't have
to advertise it much unfortunately, but you know, folks know
in the community that we offer this support. And like
I said in about October, we have an application and
they have to apply and then once that's done, they
come in for an interview. It's a lengthy process. I mean,
it's not easy to just get the support. They have
(03:16):
to come in, go through their application, finalize the application.
Then we get to know the family and we build
a profile for the kid, and we say, here, you know,
here's what the name of the child, here's what you know.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
This kid specifically needs.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
One of your major things that you do throughout the year.
I know about this, I've done about this for a
long time, is the toy drive. And you were talking
to me the other day and when we were talking
about this on the phone, that there's a bit of
an issue this year. There's a lot more kids that
you need to provide for, but you don't have the space.
And ended up going out and I got a lot
of donations because people here in central Pennsylvana are amazing,
(03:52):
but you had to go out now because of the
extra kids and spend the money, which you can't afford
really because you have to take it from other places.
So I think it was Annie that said to me
that the work that you've been doing there to get
this whole thing together has been kind of superhuman. Tell
us about that what's going on.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Yeah, So it is an incredible, incredible effort. But we
do by the by early November, about November one, we've
done with the interviews, we've worked with the families, and
at that point then we can distribute the information to
the donors and we try to get sponsors for every kid.
This year, we got close, but we still had around
(04:34):
four hundred kids that weren't sponsored.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
And then you know fill in.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
You know, someone says, oh, well, my company will sponsor
twenty with the only sponsor fifteen something like that, So
it's four hundred and definitely more that we just didn't
have sponsored. And from there we have to fill their
boxes because we promised them help and we're not going
to turn them away. So from there we rely on
toy drives, so, you know, company instead of sponsoring a
(05:01):
specific child that hold a toy drive, or we just
find really good deals anyway we can. We've got to
kind of expert shoppers on staff and they go out
and try to buy things. And I mean, we've got
a person who specializes in coats and she goes and
talks to the managers at calls and she says, no, no, no, no, no,
(05:21):
I need this coat for half of that cost, because
there are four hundred kids that aren't sponsored and they
need coats.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Yeah, So that's.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
How we get it done. But if it weren't for
the community supporting that, we would have to take those
funds from the food pantry. We'd have to take it
from after school program. We have to take it from
the summer program. We'd have to take it from the
case managers. We have to take it from the seniors program.
So we really rely on the community to fill those boxes.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Where are you right now with everything? We're a couple
of weeks out.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Yeah, so right now we've got three distributions. So in
the month of December, that's kind of crunch time, and
we lay the gym floor with over a thousand boxes.
We fill them all up with the stuff that the
sponsored kids have received. We pull the toys and fill
the boxes that weren't sponsored. We distribute it, and then
(06:13):
that afternoon we do an entire another distribution setup and
we put another over thousand boxes down, fill them all
up for a few days, close them up, distribute them.
Then the third time, lay over another thousand boxes again,
fill them all up, distribute, and then it is literally
a day or two before Christmas, and you know, we
(06:35):
sit down and take a deep breath.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Tell me what you need? You need volunteers, do you need, well,
certainly you need money.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Yeah, that's so I would say two things right now,
definitely dollars to help us buy those really good deals.
So when we see a good deal, we can take
it and we can say, yeah, we'll take that because
we know the kids need it and we can capitalize
on it. One area we always struggle, and especially this year.
You know, I always walk into the gym and I said,
where are we at? What are we struggling with teenagers?
(07:07):
Teenager boys?
Speaker 1 (07:08):
What do they want? Because I'm going to hit some
people up when.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
That's that's actually a great question. I think a lot
of us are struggling.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Well, yeah, I've got one of those, my grandson, So
I get it.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Now, we the teenage boys. People tend to adopt the
little kids, which is great. Were so appreciate, my goodness.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
That's a wonderful idea. It is for kids whose parents
may be listening to the program. Why can't the older
kids in school adopt one of these younger kids? You have?
Speaker 3 (07:37):
That's right, we need I mean, so for the older kids,
what we what do we try to fill their boxes
with their coats, shoes, hats, gloves, that's the basic needs stuff.
And then after that we're looking at like you know,
bluetooth headphones, Bluetooth speakers, footballs, basketballs. The girls will put
in like little makeup kids or lotions or bath and
(07:58):
body stuff. So you know, maybe with the boys it'll
be like a you know, gaming headset or something like that.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
So well, you have a list on your website.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Yep, so actually our websit's so easy.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Salvation Armyeharrisburg dot org on there is not only you
know how to get involved, but it is wish lists
for specific ages. And then what we're really looking for,
there's an Amazon registry. So all you have to do
is click the Amazon like and hit you know, ship
to Salvation Army, click pick a toy, pick a thing
on there, and ship it right to us. And I'm
(08:33):
telling you, especially for the teenagers. Right now, those boxes
are coming off the ups truck. They're walking into our
front door, they're walking right to the gym, and they're
going right in the boxes. I mean, it is like
an hour or two that that thing lives with us
before it gets put into a box for a kid.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
You know, I was thinking about ending the program today
with this, but I think this is a good time
to talk about it. Would you share one of those
stories talk about generous people in this community. If these
older gentlemen can do this, you can keep in a
couple bucks or get your kid. Tell your kid about this.
Can you share the stories about the gentleman with the
trucks and yeah, social Security?
Speaker 4 (09:10):
We h.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
I mean, we're very blessed that we've been in an
organization that's been supporting the community for a long time.
The Savage Army has had a presence in Harrisburg specifically
since eighteen eighty five, which means that we have a
handful of generations here who have received support and who
have been coming back to give back. And it is
truly the most humbling experience to see families, individuals come
(09:34):
back and say, yeah, you guys are the only reason
why I'm here. You're the only reason why I got
any support. So, you know, we were talking last week
and I shared that, you know, just at our Christmas
drop off, I had a woman come and she was
kind of shuffling these final bags together, putting them together,
put in the last things in the bags. I said,
you know, seems Spiel, thank you so much for coming.
(09:55):
We really really really appreciate this. And she stopped and
she looked up and see she said, this is the
first year, I haven't used your support, and so you know,
it really does show you that, like, not only does
this support help, but it meant so much that the
next year they're like, you know what, I don't care
if I've just scraunged together a couple of bucks, I
can make it this year, and I could buy a
(10:15):
couple of toys for somebody else. And then that gentleman
you're saying, oh story, Yeah, he was a guy that
came to us last year and he just said, you know,
he called me on a weekend and he said, can
I can you? Can you accommodate a couple a truckload
of toys? And I didn't know what to expect. And
I called him back and I said, we sure can.
(10:37):
And I didn't know if he meant a U haul
or a pickup truck or what, but you know, he
showed up and he told me his story, and he
said that his mom had passed away when she was
and he was just sorry his dad had passed away
when he was a child and it was just him
and his mom and was at a time where it
was really hard for a woman to be single and
(10:59):
work and ride. And that was only because of the
Salvation Army that he could have anything at all, and
so you know, he got he got emotional, and and
you know, he's like, you know, this is on my
bucket list. This is one of the final things I
needed to do. And I didn't really know what that meant.
Doesn't mean he's he's not well, doesn't mean he's not sick.
(11:20):
I don't I don't know, and he's not the gentleman
to open up in that way. And so you know, I'm,
you know, an emotional person myself. I'm like almost crying myself.
But you know, he gives the check and then he
tells me that he and his wife had been on
Social Security all year, but he knew this was something
he needed to do, and so he'd been pulling from
his social Security checks and he had had a pickup
(11:41):
truck full of toys and I hadn't heard from him.
I kept his his name and his phone number on
my on a post it note on my computer, and
I called him a couple of times through the year
and just let him knowing I'm thinking of you and
praying for you, and just hope you know you're doing
you know, I want to know you're doing okay. He
never called back, and I never knew that meant, and
I don't know if he passed away. I didn't know
(12:02):
if this was a one time thing. And just a
couple of weeks ago, sitting in my office and I
got a call from the front desk and they're like,
there's a guy out here to see you. We don't
know who he is. And I walked out there and
it was him and he said, can you take another truck?
Speaker 1 (12:18):
What a story.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
That's incredible. It really is incredible.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
And that just goes to show you taking money, saving
money from your social security when the biggest percentage of
people out there, older folks are living on nothing but
their social security and things are tough. Yep, what a story.
I think that's wonderful. You know, you had mentioned about
praying for people and part of what your mission has
(12:45):
always been is not discriminating and providing spiritual needs. You
still do that and tell us why?
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (12:55):
I mean we are a you know, faith based organization.
You know, this is our mission is to provide spiritual
services to those that you know are open and seeking
and interested in it. From a staff perspective, it you know,
motivates a lot of us. We look at our work
as a form of worship. In serving, we know that
(13:17):
you know, not to get onto a faith based here,
but okay, Jesus came to to serve, not to be served,
and it's our job to emulate him.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
And so.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
You know, our work is tiring and it's tough, but
it is the work we are put here to do.
And so the spiritual offering we have, we do have
church services on Sunday, we have spiritual counseling, is not
required to in any way to receive other support from us.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
But it turns a of a lot of lives around,
doesn't it. It's yours your faith in humankind too.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Absolutely, so you know, yeah, it's it's a It's something
we would love for people to participate in, but we
recognize individuals are different.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
We don't discriminate.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
We're not going to say you can't receive Christmas because
you're atheist, or maybe you don't do something that doesn't
allow or whatever. We're you know, we support anyone in
need without discrimination.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
That's wonderful. You know, when I talk to people about Salvation,
arc first thing they say to me is it's that
lady that's ringing the kettle or that guy that's ringing
the red kettle at Christmas time. But I don't think
people realize it isn't that the oldest annual charitable donation
event in the whole country. Probably that's oh my gosh,
what do you do with that money? Oh?
Speaker 3 (14:32):
That goes right back to our programs. I mean, especially
around Christmas, it goes right to our Christmas.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Is it a big fundraiser?
Speaker 2 (14:37):
It is. It's a pretty good.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
It brings in over one hundred thousand, fourth around one
hundred and forty thousand each year. We're all over the place.
But you know what I always tell people, it's not
just about the dollars that go in the kettle. Yes,
that's a huge deal. So please anybody who hears this
drop a dollar into the kettle.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Yeah, what's the lock? Yeah right.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
But what it also serves at for the Salvation Army
is a hey remember us, Hey don't forget to sponsor
that kid. Hey we're still here, We're still serving. And
it's just that reminder. I mean, so many folks when
they walk through carns or whatever it is, they go, oh,
that's right, the savage I got to go adopt that kid.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
What does it you're saying, you keep saying it. What
does it take to adopt a kid?
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Well, so we're close now because it's distribution times, so
it's tough to adopt them now. But in the month
of November, when you adopt a kid or you take
an angel tag or sponsor a kid or whatever it is,
it means you select your child.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
You select you know.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Do you know the story? Do you provide the story
of the child to them?
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Not the story?
Speaker 1 (15:36):
You know who the kid is that you're.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Getting, Just that you have the name, the age, and
then what they need and what they want.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
So you get a little tag.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
And so if you're like, you know a family and
you've got an eight year old boy and you know
a seven year old girl and you want to adopt
the same ages, that way your kids can go shop
and you know they know what it is they're looking
for to give the kids you can do.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
So what do you Is there a price you put
on and you provide?
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Do you guys?
Speaker 1 (16:01):
Just provide the basic human needs and the people who
would go and get the toys? How does that work?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (16:06):
So no, the donor gets everything from there. So we
typically try to say around you know, one hundred hundred
and fifty dollars a box. Inflation has been killing everybody.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
I can't imagine.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
It doesn't go as party where But and what we
ask for is that you take a look at the
kids tag you see what they need, see what they want,
make sure you provide an item that they need, an outfit,
a toy, and a stocking stuffer.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
When this all culminates, what happens when the kids get
their stuff? Oh my party? Or what do you do?
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Oh? No? So we have three distribution days where families
come through. I mean it is like a Chick fil
a parking lot experience. They drive through, they go, you know,
they sign in basically, and then they come they get
a meal voucher for a Christmas meal. And then they
come up and they park into a temporary spot and
then volunteers come out and bring out their boxes. And
(16:54):
that is I have three of the most rewarding days
every single year. It's those three distribution days.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Yeah, I think you called the TV stations come out
and film that.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Yeah, Well, we try to maintain though the respect because
some folks don't like to be on TV.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
That yeah, I can understand that that's true. Torue. We
mentioned the numbers keep on getting higher. I think it's
important to talk to people and people that don't want
to believe this. So many people are in denial. Thank
god they donate, but that it's not just the people
used to think that need that help. I mean the
(17:29):
way things are, people are now working two and three jobs.
It's difficult for everybody, but it can be. I know,
CEOs making lots of money, all of a sudden they
lost their jobs. Where they're gonna do? Can you talk
about that a little more so people understand this could
happen you anytime.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Yep, I mean that is so true.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
We see, yes, a lot of people who are facing
generational cycles of poverty that they are just very difficult
to break out of. But we also see people who
have just lost a job or some really common is
facing an unexpected illness, an unexpected layoffs. You know, their
kid got sick and there goes everything. Their husband died
(18:11):
and they were doing fine, but now stay at home
mom is without their husband and she's like, WHOA what
am I gonna do? We had a guy he I
don't think he received Christmas support but we had a
business owner come to us.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Gosh, I don't remember, maybe it was.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
A year ago now, and he had three kids, and
his wife left, and he had assumed that she had
been paying the bills and doing all the things.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
He was working.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
She was at home, and he assumed that she had
just been taking care of those things. And when she left,
he went from being an entrepreneur with his own business,
dude now having to shuffle all that it takes for
three kids. And then when his water was shut off,
he realized she hadn't been paying any of the bills.
And he came to us and he, you know, one
(19:02):
of the things we see people in crisis all the time,
So one of the things we knew to give him
was an emergency box with a package of wipes in it.
And he came back then for next you know, we
worked with him get his water on and everything else too.
But one of the things he came back and said
was I didn't know what I needed. I didn't realize
that those wipes probably gonna be the only way I
bathed my kids for a couple of days. And so,
(19:24):
I mean, he was doing fine. He was an entrepreneur
and was living and then Boom didn't realize. We see
that a lot. And in our food pantry too, we're
seeing you know, not just those that are working that
are in poverty and have been in poverty, but those
that are working who are now with inflation, having to say,
all right, I gotta choose it's rent or food, it's
(19:48):
medicine or daycare or it is you know, food or
actually being able to turn on my heat, and so
it's tough decisions.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Well, you know, I used to hear that stuff about
older people. Do I cat food or I'd pay for
my medicine? No, seriously, But now with whole families have
to do that definitely. But what would you tell them
to give them hope when they come in. It's possible
to turn this around, isn't it?
Speaker 4 (20:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (20:17):
It sure is.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
I mean, and everyone when they come in, it's people
are at varying stages and we want to first meet
that basic need. So if they come in to us
because their heat's turned off and it's about to be
thirty degrees tonight, like we're not going to talk to
you about jobs, We're not going to talk to you
long term stuff. We're going to make sure you get
your heat on. You know, if you come down and
your fridgers bear, we're going to fill your fridge first.
(20:38):
Then from there we sorry. All right, what's the long
term plan? Where are we going? What is your job?
What you know, what's your income and what are your costs?
Let's measure that out. Where's your discretionary spending, what's your
necessary spending? You know, how can we work to you know,
consolidate debt with you and and and work through some
(20:58):
of them. We'll get you enrolled in the work force
Development program so that you can you know, if your
ratio is off of your spending's up and your incomes down,
one thing has to give. Your income's got to go
up or your spending's got to go down. And so
you know, we can get you a better job. So
we're definitely pushing for self sufficiency as much as we can,
(21:20):
and we balance those two things. Basic needs self sufficiency,
basic needs self sufficiency all the time.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Can you give this idea how I know there's accountability
with your folks, but how it has changed there's somebody
sticks out in your mind. I mean when kids are
in that situation where they don't have food, eat, and
things like that they don't. It's embarrassing in school, kids
make fun of you. You're hungry. Kids don't get what
they need. What have you seen as far as changing lives?
(21:48):
Oh much sticks out to you. A couple of things
you've seen.
Speaker 3 (21:51):
Yeah, I mean so, First of one of the big
things that I think people don't realize is help looks
like more than just food and utility systems and transportation
assistant at Christmas boxes. Help is uh, first and foremost,
a welcoming, non judgmental attitude towards someone and saying, look,
(22:12):
I don't care if you made a series of bad
decisions or if you know, you grew up like this
and you know nothing else.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
You're not there to judge all and you don't care.
I mean, that's not part of it.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
We just want to get you back.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
That limits people a lot because people think they can't
they can't know this about me.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Sure is.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
And it's just I mean, we see people who are
really in survival mode. They'll come into our lobby and
they're just so used to survival that like they just
you know, are kind of ready to just just just
fight and defend and take because they're scared and It's
like what we try to do is when they come in,
we say, hey, come on back, you want to fight here,
(22:53):
You're not judged, You're not judged.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
We just want to help you.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
And so after a lot of people to believe, isn't
it it is?
Speaker 3 (23:00):
It takes a minute. And so sometimes, you know, when
we get someone into a food pantry, we just want
to have a good experience in the food pantry because
if they come to the food pantry a couple of
times and they see all our volunteers are happy to
see them. Our case managers were saying hello, our food
pantry coordinator is like, what's your name? No, no, no, didn't
you have two kids? I thought you you know what,
maybe you need an extra thing eggs? You know. Then
(23:22):
that's the point where we can say, hey, did you
see that sign about the workforce development program or you
know what we've got? We noticed that you keep coming
in with a cart and you and you're wet, Like
could we get you a bus pass? You know, how
can we help you to get you to a better place?
And countless people, I mean, every time someone says like
(23:44):
I just don't know how I would have done it
without you.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Oh, my god, that's amazing. You know, there's a lot
more I like to talk to you about, but you
and I had talked about something. I think. It's so
so exciting because I've been hammering for years for this.
Talk to me about family school mad. I love it.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
So the Families Go Mad program is a new program
we're starting, and it is designed for families to get
kids volunteering. It's still early in the stages here, but
one of the things we hear is, you know, being
a mom to young kids myself, I understand the need,
but like, how do I get my kids involved? How
do I get my kids involved? I want my kids
(24:22):
to learn that the world is bigger than themselves, right,
So hearing that and also knowing that we need the
next generation of supporters to be aligned with the Salvation
Army in order to keep our mission alive. You know,
we started Families Go Mad, which is a volunteer opportunity
for families of kids that are you know, not eighteen,
(24:44):
sixteen years old that can find volunteer opportunities. We're looking
at middle school, elementary school, and the opportunity is not
just volunteer, it's also part a lesson for why. So
it's a short lesson and like why are we giving back?
What are we why are we even bothering? Why spend
resources on someone else? Like what's why not spend them
on ourselves? Why why are we thinking about others? And
(25:08):
then we move into all right, now we're gonna Now
we're gonna do it.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
And you know what, I've had that experience with my son,
with other children and they find out I can guarantee it.
They don't want to go. They have they've got important
work to do right in front of it with their
thumbs every day. They don't want to do that. But
when they get there and they do and they see
what they do, they are so excited because a lot
of teachers tell me there's a lot of self esteem
(25:34):
problems in school. This will take care of it. This
makes you feel like a million bucks.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
And it's humbling too, Like when we're having them put
hygiene kids together and they're putting two rolls of toilet
paper in a bag mm hmm with some soap, it's
like they start to see like wow, like really.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Wow, whence you get this up? And runner, we're gonna
have to do some work to get the get some
corporate sponsors on this one, because this is gonna be wonderful, Tony.
There have been a lot of changes. I've seen them.
I've been in Harrisburg a long long time and from
new buildings, locations, different services that have been added. What
(26:13):
has impressed you the most about about working for the
Salvation Army? Why do you do it? Oh?
Speaker 2 (26:18):
Gosh?
Speaker 3 (26:19):
I so I have been in development for a long time.
I'm on the you know, development fundraising, you know, outside
group of things. And I've always said that, you know,
fundraising is only hard when you don't really believe in
the mission. It's hard to sell something that you believe
in that you don't believe in. This is kind of
(26:41):
taking my Salvation Army hat off here for a second.
This is by far the most incredible organization, incredible steward
of resources I have ever seen in all of my career.
I have this. This team at the Salvation Army works
so hard. I mean, we have one person on the
team who will just get on you about printing in
color because she said, you don't understand donors pay for
(27:03):
this ink and if you're just printing in color or
spending money instead of in the food pantry. You know
we are. I've never seen a more dedicated staff to
stewarding dollars well and providing truly helpful support. Not just
here's a box of food, but here's food that we
(27:24):
know meets your you know, preferences. We have a community
garden outs that I've got thirty four raised garden beds
that allow us to grow our own produce. And yes,
we can grow more tomatoes, we can grow more cucumbers,
we can grow all the things that we would be
able to get at the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank or
from you know, grocery rescue. But we've instead said, hey,
you know what, let's look at the cultures of the
(27:45):
people that we're serving. What do they like to eat?
And so we're growing vegetables quite honestly, that I've never
heard of. But they're the people that we're serving, from
the countries where they're from, the cultures, the palettes that
they have, We're gonna grow them some things. So I've
just never seen a more dedicated staff who says, I
(28:07):
see you person, individual, I see you, I know what
you need, and I want to I want.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
To help Tony. You're amazing Tony and Lynnmark honesty, goodness.
Thank you so much for all that you do every
single day, even Saturday and Sunday. We help so many
people here in the cap the Harsburg Capital Region. One
more time, what's your website address?
Speaker 2 (28:26):
Oh, Salvation Army Harrisburg dot org. Go right over there. Yep.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
There's a reason that the Salvation Army is known as
the organizations that's doing the most good. Please please help
in any way you can, and watch out for that
Families Go Mad program.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Don't forget that. You can catch inside every Sunday in
our can iHeart stations or anytime in your favorite podcast step.
I'm Sylvia Moss. This has been insight Thanks so much
for listening. See you next week.
Speaker 5 (28:54):
It took me a long time to be able to
say Chandler has cancer because that is such a scary word.
Saint Jude takes care of absolutely everything, and knowing that
we don't have to pay for all of the medical expenses,
that's huge.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Saint Jude allowed me to focus on being a mom
to Bryce, and sometimes I'm just in awe of the
impact Saint Jude has not only on this community, but
the world.
Speaker 4 (29:21):
Saint Jude is uniquely positioned to advance the cures of
pediatric cancer. I think better than any other institution in
the world. The contributions make a big difference. Donors are
important to us because you get the feeling that you
have a team behind you. We have the resources, and
we have the focus. And so if Saint Jude doesn't
do it, who.
Speaker 5 (29:42):
Will Saint Jude Children's Research Hospital finding cures saving children.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Learn more at Saint Jude dot org. Hope Within Ministries
provides health, dentaline counseling services to low income residents of Lebanon, Lancaster,
and Dauphin counties. They need dennis, posicians and others to
volunteer their services just a few hours a month. For
more information on the ways that you can volunteer or donate,
go to hopew withthin dot org.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com