Cycling with Sally

As you can see by the pictures we did a variety of work over the two days we were in San Franciso.  This was due to the wonderful, thoughtful planning of Jaime Smith, the Metro Area Volunteer Co-ordinator.

    

Day One:

·      We started out the day with Anthony and his hard-working team in the main kitchen sealing meals for delivery and making pot pies for the next day’s meal.  Also while we were there we got interview by a local newspaper that Laine Hendricks (the PR Director) had organized to help promote volunteering with the Salvation Army.  Click here to see the article.

·      Next we were whisked away by Stephanie and learnt about the ‘Meals that Heals’ program.  We were assigned to delivering meals by foot to people staying in the Tenderloin district (a low socio-economic area right in downtown).

·      We spent the rest of the day in the warehouse with Larry and his team making up boxes for a thanksgiving food drive coming up.  There were a lot of boxes!

Day Two:

·      We spent the first few hours of the day in the District Headquarters office (not looking so professional) preparing a mail out and also doing some poster work for the Marketing team.  While we were there we met so many friendly staff members – thank you to everyone that said hello and made us feel welcome.

·      Next we met Kathy who gave us an introduction to the ARC (Adult Rehabilitation Center) where donations are sorted.  There were several containers filled with single shoes that needed pairing in preparation for being sent to third world countries.  It was actually surprising how many we were about to marry up. 

·      Finally, we went to the KROC Center that is a community center donated by the founders of McDonalds.  We were given a tour of this beautiful and functional building by Candy and her capable team.   We were asked to speak with some kids that participated in the After School Program.  It was super fun hanging out with them and showing them a little bit of what we’ve been up to so far on our trip.

 

All in all, we had a great time volunteering in San Franciso and really appreciated the enthusiasm and time many of the staff spent with us amongst their demanding work schedule.  It truly was a pleasure.

After a warm and excited reception by the hard working staff at the Family Services Center, we got to work sorting and stocking the shelves with bulk food items. They have a very organized and efficient system of stocking items and this ensures people will receive the best quality food available. From here we jumped on our bikes and headed down the road to the Salvation Army Thrift Store, or should I say MEGA store. This place was huge, with 4 truck unloading bays, a generous store front and many busy bodies sorting, pricing and restocking shelves and racks. This was our first time working behind the scenes at the Salvation Army Thrift Store and it was impressive to say the least. Unfortunately not all donated items can be re-sold, but we were ever so pleased to learn that some items are being given to African countries and others recycled. We had a great time meeting and working with all the great staff we met in Eugene, OR.

 The Salvation Army has several facilities in Portland.  We volunteered at the Harbor Light center which caters to Veterans working through drug and alcohol issues.  It has a kitchen that serves up three meals a day for the clients staying over.  We helped out with preparing and serving the lunch and then Belinda worked on prep for dinner while Roland worked in the basement sorting through produce - what a good sport!

We spent most of our time at the Olympia Shelter doing laundry, but also did the clean up of the dining room hall after lunch was over.  I have to say Roland is defiantely better at folding than I am!  They have been understaffed the last few days so there was a backlog.  What they had us do was after washing and drying the linen, we made up bundles of a fitted sheet, flat sheet and pillow case.  Then when a new client is checking in they get their linen (all ready to go) for their bed.  This shelter is currently going through a transition period to better assist the needs of their community, with changes to who they provide shetler to and also preparing for major renovations which they are very excited about.  Thanks to Mike, Cherie and Jeannie for settling us in.

We have decided to separate out our cycling journal and Salvation Army work to make it a little easier for everyone.  We apologise the order is a tad muddled with previous entries but it's dated and we think our readers are smart cookies so you can work it out!  Unfortunately we lost the comments transferring the information too.

During our time in Vancouver, B.C, we spent the better part of three days volunteering at Harbour Light which is run by the Salvation Army in the downtown area.  Click here to learn about Harbour Light and the services they provide.    We did a variety of jobs while we were in this bustling and positive environment, such as: cleaning down the 'drop in' centre kitchen; cleaning containers, walls and benches in the soup kitchen; making a gazillion sandwiches to include in takeout bags for people needing a meal; assisting in serving the meal for the lunch service which feeds at least 300 people everyday.   We got the most pleasure out of talking with the other volunteers during the food service who were actively participating in in the treatment programmes as part of their rehabilitation.  Thank you to Kecia who made us feel welcome and for giving us a tour of the facility.  You, your colleagues and the volunteers do such a wonderful job there. 

We would like to take this opportunity  to thank Amelia Norrie, the PR assistant at the B.C. Headquarters for being ever so helpful with supporting our concept and smoothing the road ahead in terms of contacting local Salvation Armies that we will be/have already been passing through.  We were so stoked when they wanted to supply us with cycling shirts that had both our logo and the Salvation Army logo on them.  They look super styley and make us look a little bit more legit!   Once again, thank you very much to Amelia, Major Susan van Duinen, Brian Venables and Johnny at the B.C. Headquarters for your enthusiasm - it's contagious!

While we stayed in Fairbanks we spent a few hours on Saturday giving out food parcels to about 60 senior citizens who live in assisted-living apartments.  It was really great to work with a small group of committed volunteers who faithfully do this twice a month.  The Salvation Army gets together a lot of food - those boxes were super heavy!  Thanks to Michael Bates and Heidi who helped us help them!  We forgot to take pictures of us except of the boxes!

We spent a day in the Salvation Army Shelter painting a large wall in the food hall.  We washed, dry-walled, sanded and put two coats of paint on.  Although we were reasonably pleased with our work we wished we could have stayed and finished the whole room.  The workers at the shelter are amazing.  They are well respected, have a good repore with the clients and work hard.  Shannon and Jeff head the Whitehorse division and were so helpful and also doing a great job as they only moved to Whitehorse three months ago.

Our day in Dawson Creek was a mixed bag, which is a true reflection of the work John and his wife Rose does on a day-to-day basis.  It's a small centre and they pretty much wear several different hats on any given day.  We were astounded by their compassion for the community and the many hours they obviously put in.  We helped John and two other volunteers working that day pick up baked goods from supermarkets, work in the food store re-organising and packaging, did some dishes and cleaned up the main hall and also escorted people being picked up and dropped off for food parcels.  It's fascinating how each Salvation Army works so differently to the next, however it is clearly vital as each one caters to the individual needs of each community.  A big thanks to John to being super helpful with giving us a spare tire too (as ours didn't turn up in the post as planned).  Please note, we tried super hard to get the photo of John and Rose the right way up but didn't want to cooperate - Belinda not dealing with this well!