Bell ringers help collect donations for Salvation Army of Lenawee County

Each Christmas season, the Salvation Army posts bell ringers at the entrances of busy stores, hoping shoppers will drop spare change into a small red kettle. The change from these kettles goes towards supporting local Salvation Army corps, whose primary mission is to feed, clothe and shelter the needy throughout the year.

Terry Gaster, administrator and envoy officer at the Lenawee County corps of the Salvation Army, says that 19 bell ringers have been placed at various locations around the county and that a few more will be added during the season. “There were quite a few applications to ring bells this year,” Gaster said. “We have both volunteer and paid positions. We offer paid positions to help get some places covered, but the more volunteers we have the more money that comes in.”

Along with individual volunteers, groups are also invited to take a slot to ring bells. “There are groups that come in such as Rotary and Kiwanis, to ring bells for us on certain days. It really helps us a lot,” Gaster said. “They take a spot and are there for the whole day, and it really helps because there are volunteers who only want to serve once and not for the whole season.”

Gaster hopes the 2015 kettles in Lenawee raise $115,000 for the corps to use. Ninety-two cents out of every dollar donated to the chapter goes towards feeding, clothing and paying for utilities of the needy in Lenawee County. “The money goes towards feeding people, helping with utilities, clothing vouchers, and other programs,” Gaster said. “We serve dinner twice a week on Mondays and Wednesdays, where we feed one hundred-fifty people each time. We also host the Share the Warmth program, providing shelter here at our location November first until the first week of April. We house between twenty-five and thirty people each night, and feed the homeless breakfast every morning. Several churches in the area bring dinner to them and spend the night here so they are never alone.”

Gaster said the Salvation Army is a church before anything else, and that not many people are aware of that fact. “We have many outreach programs,” Gaster said. “We have services on Sunday morning, men’s and women’s Bible studies, regular Bible studies, a men’s and women’s fellowship and youth night on Mondays.”

Before he came to Lenawee County, Gaster and his wife worked at another Salvation Army corp based in Detroit. He says the need in Lenawee is equal to that of the inner city. “We were transferred here June of 2014, and we found that the need is just as great here as it is in Detroit,” Gaster said. “I asked several people why that was and I heard it was because several manufacturers pulled out of Lenawee County. Those people [who worked for the manufacturers] eventually lost their homes because they didn’t have an income, or they became underemployed and couldn’t make ends meet. It’s pretty prevalent here in Lenawee County. Most of these folks want someone to help them so they can do something on their own and go back to being productive like they were in the past.”

Most of the people that arrive at the Salvation Army are in shock, Gaster said, and are confused about what’s happening to them. “We pray with them, and tell them that God still loves them and still wants the best for them,” Gaster said. “We give them a leg up and help them the best we can. Whatever it is they need there is an agency [in Lenawee] providing that need. What we cannot provide, we can send them somewhere else where they can get help. There’s such a great need in Lenawee County. Without the Salvation Army, a lot of these people wouldn’t be able to eat or know where to go. We’ve been serving in Lenawee since 1896.”

One thing Gaster insists on. Without the donations gathered through the red kettles, the Salvation Army in Lenawee would cease to exist. “We don’t get support through other organizations, and the Salvation Army does not lend money to various units, so we would not be able to survive,” Gaster said. “The Salvation Army in Lenawee would go away without donors putting change in the red kettles at Christmas time, because that gets us through the whole year.”