Cycling with Sally

Jaime Smith wrote: "We  just wanted to pass on some very amazing news.  Craig Gordan (who you met at the ARC Advisory Council Meeting) was gracious enough to make a $5,000 contribution to TSA for your cycling jersey!! He then made a $1,000 donation for our Haiti Relief Efforts and has since joined the ARC Advisory Council! So your donated jersey helped to raise $6,000 for our programs and helped to foster a relationship with a new council member!"

We would never have thought it would go for that much and still surprised someone would want one of our shirts!  This was really generous of Craig Gordan and super cool that he helped out with the Haiti Response as well.  We are glad we could help out, it's truly a pleasure.

 We had a great day here in the San Luis Potosi Salvation Army, where Raul and his wife run an Orphanage for approximately 30 children.  At the time, his niece and her husband were here helping out as well.  We got to have some fun with the kids, playing football and on the playground and sharing meals with them.  In the afternoon we helped moved many donated clothes (that were taking up space in the office) to the garage.  We also extended their washing line and put up a tarp to keep the contents in the garage dry.  There are many dedicated staff working here and the children are very well cared for and loved.  Thank you to Raul and his team for making us feel very welcome.

We also had a surprise appearance by Spiderman!

EJERCITO DE SALVACIO

With the asístance of Frida, our ever supportive host, we were able to get in touch with Captain Raul and Itzel Rodrigueuz and do some helpful things in Durango.  Oddly enough Raul was impressed with our rather simple website and appreactived the time setting one up and working through the many different functions and options. When Raul has had some time up loading and updating, we will include a link from our site.

In Mexico the people not only celebrate Christmas in a huge way, but also something called Dia de Reyes, known as the three kinas day. Twelve days after Christmas, Magi arrived bearing gifts for baby Jesus. In Mexico children receive gifts on this day, brought by the three kings, los Reyes Magos, Melchor, Gaspar, and Baltazar. Some children receive gifts from both Santa Claus and the Kings, but Santa is seen as an imported custom, and the traditional day for Mexican children to receive gifts is January 6.

So we spent the better part of the next day exercising our creative jueces and decorated the church hall for the party. It was very ´chido´ (cool) hanging out with the many children at the orphanage and even managing to squeaze in a game of soccer to complete the day. Amazing that we can play soccer on a basketball court surrounded by traffic dodging our many astray balls.

The Salvation Army plays a critical role here in Durango, as the Mexician government takes care of guardianless children up to the age of 12. Once this age is reached funding and support stops and the Salvation Army steps in to ensure the well being of these children continues. 

We haven´t abandoned the Salvation Army but there´s been no where to volunteer down the Baja California, except Tijuana but we didn´t stink around there.  Stay tuned as we hope to do more volunteer work in the near future in some places in Mainland Mexico.  We just need to work out how to best contact them, particularly with our limited Spanish - eek!

Here we spent six hours outside a Von's Supermarket Bell Ringing for the Salvation Army Kettle Drive, which is done each year during the Christmas period.  What's cool about this drive is the money donated goes towards services in the local community.  What we did was wish people a Merry Christmas and give out friendly smiles - you don't specifically ask for donations.  We are waiting to find out how much money was donated during our shift which will be interesting.  Thanks to Darren Norton for setting up this volunteer opportunity for us - another new experience!  Oh and the Santa hats couldn't have come at a better time - sent over by someone special in New Zealand - thanks Mum!

We did two days of volunteer work in Long Beach, CA.  The first day was at the ARC and the following day at the Corps.

We were just so impressed with the ARC (Adult Rehabilitation Center) operations.  This is where the Warehouse is run that organises donations for the Thrift Stores and Third World Countries.  Part of the client's rehabilitation is to work a 'typical day' in the Warehouse.  The revenue made from these donations goes back into Salvation Army programs helping clients to lead independent and fulfilling lives.  We were greeted by Aldo Accinelli, the Business Administrator,  who is really trying to maximise donated resources, reduce waste, utilise people's skills and increase revenue.  For example, we learned about vehicle donation and sales, how they bail up clothing to send to Third World Countries, antique auctions, hardwood furniture and hospital equipment going to Boliva and books that are now catergorised and sold online.  We were privy to more unusual donations, such as, a set of false teeth, a live lizard, a grenade, a gun, a plane, and human ashes.  


While at the ARC we were kindly looked after by Captain Frank and his wife Captain Beth.  We had a grand tour of the facility and really enjoyed meeting with clients.  We served lunch to about 80 people and then gave a brief talk about our trip while people were eating.  It was neat to have a captive audience and we hope what we had to say was an encouragement to these guys.  In the afternoon, we worked in the Electronic Department with James where we sorted through and begun to categorise printer ink cartridges into some order. 


At the Corps we had the job of making up gift bags for elders - a pair of socks, some encouraging words and a War Cry magazine.  We were totally in our element as we had done this in other areas so we managed to make up at least 600 of them in a few hours.  There's still more to do if anyone is reading this in the Long Beach area!


We would really like to thank Erica (in the DHQ) for getting us in contact with Gail Crandall who made us feel very welcome and coordinated all the work we did while in Long Beach.  We really enjoyed our lunch with you and our first taste of Tomales - a special Mexican treat wrapped in corn husks.  Thank you very much to all we met here - it was a really great two days of volunteering.

Walking through the beautiful streets of Santa Barbara (in shorts it was so warm!) we found ourselves in front of the Salvation Army Hospitality House where we met Mick who was preparing for our first job - trimming the front hedge.  It was a lovely looking hedge, however it was being used as a bed for some members of the community and so something needed to be done to deter this behaviour.  We don't know if you could say we did a pretty job but we did meet the objective of the task!  After that we prepared 200 packed lunches ready for the next day.  It was interesting learning about his facility as when you typically think of Santa Barbara you can't imagine this affluent town needing Salvation Army services.  Unfortunately, this a misconception many make.  Not only is Santa Barbara a perfect place for Homeless people to make their 'home' because of the warmer climate but just because you're 'well off' doesn't mean you're immune to difficult times or struggling with addiction of some form.  The Hopsitality House is a transitional unit for individuals who have completed a rehabilitation/detox program and need assistance 'transitioning' back into their community successfully.  It's all about preparing them in a holistic way so they  have coping strategies to face difficult times, in the hope they don't revert back to harmful behaviours and also have the opportunity to lead a successful and fulfilling life.  Thank you to Jack Clithroe and his dedicated team of staff and volunteers for helping us volunteer on a Saturday!

We had a fantastic time in San Luis Obispo (otherwise known as SLO town) with Michael and his hard working team of volunteers. After a very comprehensive tour of the facilities, services and the dedicated individuals working behind the scenes, it was off to work packaging gift bags. Interestingly, this is a very busy and exciting time of year for all Salvation Armies and the SLO Salvation Army Extension is no different. The White Angel program is one such service that connects childrens' wish lists with people who are in a position to donate toys for Christmas.  After making up the gift bags (different ones for males and females) we made more food parcels so they were ready to go for when people came in requiring help.  Although, SLO doesn't have a Thrift Store which is what most people typically associate with the Salvation Army, they are doing a lot in their community.  The Salvation Army here works alongside the other volunteer service providers in town and divide up the responsibilities accordingly.  It turns out that the Salvation Army attend to almost 10% of SLO's population for various needs; with a particular focus being on housing issues ie.preventing people being evicted.  We would really like to thank Michael so much for making us feel welcome.  After finishing up for the day we really enjoyed sharing a meal with Michael at Mo's Barbeque Restaurant in Pismo Beach and having a tour of the SLO area.  It was a lovely way to end our day!

At the Santa Cruz Salvation Army Corp. we were warmly welcomed by Vivianna and her husband Adrian. They kindly came in on their day off,  let us into the centre and directed us to the days tasks.  Roland sorted and displayed the many beautiful donated clothes and Belinda wrapping fleece blankets destined for a seniors Christmas event. Together we managed to  wrapping over 300 blankets. These newly acquired fine motor skills will put us in good standing for a job up at the north pole, any time we want one. We attended the church the following day and enjoyed meeting other members of the congregation. The kids wanted to make sure we did not forget Santa Cruz, so they strategically put some 'sweet as' stickers on our bike. Plus as you can see we even managed to pick up our first hitch hiker.