By Capt. Bobby Carr

Special to the Salisbury Post

The Salvation Army in Salisbury has provided 400 gift stockings to Chaplain Taylor of the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office to be given to the Rowan County Detention center inmates this Christmas.

Through the Salvation Army Angel Tree ministry, in coordination with the Christmas Happiness Fund, we will provide gifts to several hundred children and families, along with special food assistance to families and older adults this Christmas. The last day to sign up for Christmas assistance is this Saturday, Dec. 5, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the YMCA on Jake Alexander Boulevard.

The red kettles are out and about and we appreciate the area business that have allowed us to place the kettles at their locations. The kettle donation goes to fund the Christmas assistance and the rent, utility and food assistance and other services offered by the Salvation Army through out the year.

Kettle donations have been down, but I am confident that the people of Rowan County will not let their neighbors in need down. If we all give a little we can help a lot. Charity helps those in-need, but the one most benefitted by an act of charity is the giver.

The face of those receiving your charity through your donation to the Salvation Army comes in many forms. There are those who live in generational poverty and perpetuate it to the next until someone puts their faith in God and breaks the cycle.

The unrecognizable face of charity is the family member who works one sometimes two jobs and is just barely making ends meet. One event can set them off balance, and they need a little help.

I experienced that personally. When I was in the third grade, the factory my father worked in burned down one Sunday night. He got a call about 3 a.m. Monday. He had been there 12 years. My father worked two temporary jobs and we got to the point we had only a head of cabbage, beans and rice to eat. My father was raised not to depend on charity and we did not, but one night my older sister Taniia who attended The Salvation Army girl guard meetings in our city, “won four bags of groceries.” My father let it be known we don’t accept charity, but the Salvation Army corps officer (who had been advised of our situation by my paternal grandmother, who worked at the Salvation Army thrift store post retirement) assured my father she had won at the youth program. That food was enough to feed us for two weeks.

My father later got a better job which he retired from after over 25 years. When the pledge cards for the United Way came out, he always made sure to make a pledge and designate the Salvation Army as his donor-designated organization.

I never have received help from the Salvation Army as an adult, but I know from that experience and what I have seen as Salvation Army officer for the past 14 years that lives are changed when people give to the Salvation Army and provide us with the resources to help others through your charity.

Our motto is “Doing the most good.” It is not that we are better than others; it is that we promise to be good stewards of your charitable gift and see that it is put to the best use to help the most people possible.

Thank you, Rowan County, for your kindness to neighbors in need.

Carr is the Rowan County Salvation Army corps officer, along with his wife, Capt. NaKisha Carr.