A LEGACY OF COMPASSION A LEGACY OF COMPASSION 909 LIBERTY STREET, DURHAM, NC 277O1 SALVATIONARMYDURHAM.ORG THE SALVATION ARMY DURHAM | ORANGE | PERSON | 2O14 ANNUAL REPORT The Durham Command of The Salvation Army, serving Durham, Orange and Person Counties, established its presence here in 1887. Based today at Liberty Street and Alston Avenue, in the heart of Durham’s most troubled neighborhoods, the Durham Corps provides job and agency referrals, food, clothing, financial assistance and spiritual care to more than 5,000 citizens per year. In its early years, the Army was named the dispenser of all the city’s charities. As the century moved forward, an outpost at the mill section of Edgemont gave special focus to children. Girls were organized into a uniformed corps of Girl Guards. In 1937, a Red Shield Club began for boys – the precursor of today’s Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club, the oldest such organization in the city. Today’s Durham Corps focuses on spiritual and social needs, in the tradition of founder William Booth. Spanish and English speaking social workers meet emergency needs and provide life skills training to help break the cycle of dependency. Weekly worship and witness at the Corps draws many to Bilingual services, reflecting the Corps’ readiness to adapt to a changing neighborhood that is now 42 percent Latino. The Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club boasts a distinguished alumni cadre of college graduates, professional individuals and even professional athletes, many of whom came from the neighborhood immediately surrounding the facility – the neighborhood where, today, the median household income is less than $20,000. As we reflect on this past year of service, we are reminded of and humbled by the legacy of compassion we have left behind us in our significant history. More than that, though, we are excited about the legacy of compassion we are building even now. Within the pages of this annual report you will read the stories of those who have been impacted in their past by The Salvation Army. And, you will read of how they are impacting the future of others by their generosity and contribution into that same legacy. We invite you to join us. Your contribution of time, money and resources adds to the legacy we are able to plant in the lives of others who need us most. It is a legacy that transcends time and is sustainable throughout the years. A LETTER FROM THE CAPTAIN What you do for someone today, will impact them into their future. Our Boys & Girls Club reminds us that “Great Futures Start Here!” When you join us, you begin a great legacy of compassion that will impact future generations for good. Captain Anthony T. Juliana Commanding Officer The Salvation Army THE SALVATION ARMY DURHAM | ORANGE | PERSON | 2O14 ANNUAL REPORT 1 WORSHIP & WITNESS PROVIDING A PLACE TO CALL HOME he Salvation Army of Durham, Orange T Total attendance and Person counties knows the needs of the for the year The chill in the air, the smell of cinnamon counties we call home. Hungry children, and the twinkle of Christmas lights all homeless individuals, struggling families, 7043 mark the beginning of the holiday season. they are not just strangers to us, they are Christmas shopping is done, baking has our neighbors and it is a core mission been completed and all that is left is for the of The Salvation Army of Durham, Orange children to wake up on Christmas morning and Person counties to meet their needs. to unwrap their gifts placed neatly under Sunday School, Sunday their tree. We feed the hungry, provide financial Worship and weekday assistance to the struggling, pray with meetings Can you imagine finding yourself, or your the hopeless and bring Christmas joy children, in a situation where the space to children who would otherwise go without. under your tree was occupied by nothing Much has changed in our community since GROUP ACTIVITIES but an empty gap, weighted with the 1910, but need remains. thoughts of gifts that might have been? 1496 And so do we, your Army. Includes Men’s Many families who receive Christmas Fellowship, Women’s assistance through Angel Tree find Ministries, youth themselves in this very situation. They groups, music groups, find themselves torn between buying the Performing Arts groups necessities and providing a full, warm Christmas for their children. Angel Tree functions under the idea that every child should be able to wake up to gifts under their tree. *Each icon represents 100 people MEETING NEEDS THE SALVATION ARMY DURHAM | ORANGE | PERSON | 2O14 ANNUAL REPORT 3 I started asking for things I knew they At the tender age of four, Brandlyn would like, then would give those gifts Owens, the librarian at Eastway to their parents so they never knew they Elementary, became an Angel Tree 5130 came from me.” “Angel.” Her family was approached by volunteer hours a local church to see if they would be were served through Angel Tree gave hope and provided interested in signing her up to be an angel. our Social Services relationship building opportunities for Outreach last year. Owens. “Angel Tree really taught me a “My mom was in prison for addiction lot,” Owens said. “It taught me to have issues she developed prior to being MATERIAL AND hope for the future, knowing that there pregnant with me,” Owens says. “She was FINANCIAL were better things to look forward to. It ASSISTANCE actually pregnant with me when she was also taught me to pay it forward. People PROVIDED incarcerated, and was in and out of prison gave gifts to me, and it taught me that for a lot of my childhood.” it doesn’t take much to make children happy, so I gave the gifts to children who Owens went on to explain that she grew needed them more than me.” up with her grandparents as her mother cycled through the battle with her To this day, Owens, her husband and addiction. “She would be clean for three 326 their daughter adopt an angel every year to four years and then she would relapse,” Families Fed through their church. Owens says. -- Owens’ mother overcame her addiction One thing that Owens distinctly in 2001 and never went back, eventually remembers from her childhood was becoming a professional substance abuse receiving gifts every Christmas. “I know 692 SERVING counselor. She passed away last year. my grandparents would have made sure Utilities & Rent that I had a Christmas every year, but EACH OTHER receiving the gifts through Angel Tree certainly helped my relationship with CASE PROFILE (Durham, Orange and Person) my mother,” Owens says. “Until I was in middle school I thought the gifts were Total cases served: 1,648 coming from my mom in prison.” As Owens grew up, she continued to 46% of the total people served in 2014 were people who were receive gifts through Angel Tree, and 46% served for the first time. began gifting them to her younger neighbors. “I always had everything I needed,” Owens says. “My situation was nothing like some of my neighbors. I babysat a lot of my neighbors, and those Total persons served: 3,990 were the kids I would give the gifts to. Total persons served for the first time this year: 1,832 THE SALVATION ARMY DURHAM | ORANGE | PERSON | 2O14 ANNUAL REPORT 5 A LITTLE FOOD GOES A LONG WAY Service comes in all shapes and sizes. Service, by its very definition, is ‘an act of helpful activity.’ No matter how large or small the act, it lasts well beyond the last moment of service. A group of ten Brownie Scouts, from Girl Scout Troop 1152, proved this exact point. On October 14, 2014, Troop 1152 volunteered in The Salvation Army’s food pantry for their monthly service project. They came during a time when food donations were low and the shelves were nearly bare, leaving them with only a few hungry. The families were able to VACATION BIBLE tasks to complete. The young women were receive well-rounded meals, complete SCHOOL with canned meats, beans, pastas and sad to see the shelves almost empty. When their volunteering came to an end they left various vegetables. Their food drive may with heavy hearts, but their minds had have only lasted a few weeks, but their been inspired. Before they left, the group enthusiasm and heart to give carries over informed The Salvation Army that they Youth (ages 6-14) into the lives of many, who didn’t have to were going to host their own food drive. attended Vacation go to bed hungry, or watch their family Bible School members lack nutrition for another night. Girl Scout Troop 1152 was The next few weeks were full of the 197 truly “Doing The Most Good” for their Brownies asking neighbors, family friends community in Durham. and other Girl Scout families for food donations. SUMMER RESIDENTIAL SALVATION ARMY BOYS & GIRLS CLUB On Tuesday, November 11, the group CAMP Total members 219 (youth ages 6-16) EMPOWERING arrived to drop off their 54 bags of food, Open 309 days of the year last year. INDEPENDENCE enough to fill two minivans. Each girl Over the course of the year, 37,818 youth, helped unload the van, and then proceeded guardians, spectators, coaches, mentors and to carry the bags down the hall to the food tutors entered our doors. pantry, seeing the project through to the 22 98 children attended our Summer Day Camp. end. We sent 22 children 7,649 volunteer hours were served through to The Salvation our Boys & Girls Club.