Awaiting her chance at Bridgeport's Salvation Army to pick up the basics for a festive dinner, Samaria Williams reflected on all the ways the organization's generosity has helped her over the years.
"It's hard to make ends meet and I'm a single parent," said Williams, a 49-year-old city resident who has two children. Over about the last 15 years, the full-time nursing aide has received regular boosts of food and guidance in obtaining energy assistance, and next month -- with theirs and Santa's help -- she hopes to have the suitable presents for her 7- and 10-year-old children.
"It's a blessing," Williams added last week as she collected bagged goods such as onions and carrots, cranberry sauce and stuffing, as well as a frozen turkey. "It's Thanksgiving dinner for my family."
Roughly 1,500 turkeys bought mostly from the Connecticut Food Bank -- boosted by a few donations -- were handed out by the Bridgeport Salvation Army last week, one of the most visible but hardly the only way it makes a difference in the community.
There is the "Angel Tree," which seeks requested Christmas gifts for children from poor families. There is the senior lunch program that supplements a government grant. There is a weekly dinner program geared toward families.
There are drug rehabilitation programs, for men in Bridgeport and for women in Hartford. There are Salvation Army camps -- southern New England's are upstate in Ashford, which cater to both youths and
And most of all, it is a church.
"A lot of people don't know we are a church first," said Major Theresa Burkholder, who grew up in it and is in charge of the Greater Valley Salvation Army in Ansonia. Like other Salvation Armies, it holds weekly services, presided over by its pastor-officers, which attract regular worshipers who are not necessarily receiving aid but are actively involved in its mission.
That mission took root in England in 1865, when a minister named William Booth gave up his London pulpit and decided to concentrate on serving the poor, giving rise to an evangelical church that has spread throughout the world.
"I don't think people realize the Salvation Army is one of the largest international development programs in the world," said Major Michael C. Sharpe, the Bridgeport area coordinator who has also been posted to Central and South America. But regardless of where the Army functions, "we don't require people to jump through religious hoops" to get its assistance.
Indeed, said Carla Weston, the Bridgeport social services director whose grandparents were Salvation Army officers in their native Sweden, most of the people in Bridgeport are typically working poor like Williams, who appreciate whatever help they can receive.
Some are longtime recipients but others are new -- people feeling the effects of a troubled economy, whether they're newly out-of-work or fixed-income seniors finding it harder to get by amid rising prices.
Tonya Carouthers said she lost her job as a waitress and needed to make dinner for her six children.
Since July, Bridgeport officials say, their requests for food assistance has jumped by 50 to 70 new cases a month.
Weston said she tries to run a tight financial ship. She usually has people sign up in advance for assistance, checking whatever documentation she can to ascertain their economic situation.
She wanted to make sure there were turkeys available for those who followed those rules, and said she was frustrated when she turned away people, telling them she couldn't promise them turkeys until the pick-up time for those who had signed up was past.
But hard times sometimes also bring out more generosity, enabling her to meet the needs of those who signed up early.
"I really thought it was going to be a difficult Thanksgiving," she said. But with the economy hitting everyone, new donors have appeared. She recalled providing food to striking workers at Sikorsky Aircraft two years ago who had never imagined they would ask for such help. "A lot of those people have come back with donations," she said.
Overall the Bridgeport agency's budget is about $1.5 million, according to Sharpe. The Valley's smaller unit has a budget of more than $200,000, though Burkholder said she's hopeful a matching grant will encourage more donations this season.
The Army also runs drug-treatment facilities in Hartford for women, and in Bridgeport and New Haven that are separately funded through proceeds from selling donated goods in the Salvation Army stores.
Like many other Salvation Army locations, Bridgeport also operates an Emergency Disaster Service vehicle, which is dispatched to help everyone from victims of local fires to distant hurricanes.
Capt. Forrest Lanchester, who arrived in Bridgeport last July, said that each location concentrates on needs that serve its community best, and there is much more to do here. There are seniors who need to keep active because people are living longer and longer.
There are young people who have been released from prison and need counseling and education to become productive members of society. And there are teens who need afterschool activities such as tutoring or just support groups to talk about their issues in a location where they can be safe.
The Salvation Army can't do everything, but will do its best, Lancaster said. "We're just trying to be of service and help fill in the gaps," he said.
Font Resize
![Quantcast](http://pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-18RwvsI7rqyEk.gif?labels=ConnecticutPost"){kind=small}