Feeble economy -- busy Salvation Army

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- The economic downturn has caused a sharp increase in the number of people seeking help from the Salvation Army at this pre-Christmas season, a spokesman for the small Protestant denomination told United Press International Monday.

"Two years ago, 5 million came to see us between Thanksgiving and Christmas. In 2001, the figure rose to 6 million, and I wouldn't be surprised if we reached 7 million this year," said Col. Tom Jones, National Community Relations and Development Secretary at the Salvation Army's U.S. headquarters in Alexandria, Va.

"We are seeing a different kind of people in need of help with their rent and utilities, or with food problems," the colonel went on, "they are middle-class type who never before required any aid from the Army."

According to Jones, some of these cases are related to the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001. "Many lost jobs in the airline industry." Others suddenly found themselves fired from positions in the computer and the hotel businesses.

Altogether, the Salvation Army helped 38 million Americans in 2001.

But as their "clients" increase in numbers, so do their volunteers, partly out of admiration for the Army's work after Sept. 11. In the United States, 3.3 million men and women now give their time to this small evangelical church, which counts no more than 125,000 U.S. members -- called soldiers -- and another 350,000 congregants, who are not formally part of this denomination but attend its services regularly.

The most visible volunteers in Advent are the bell ringers, who collect money for the Army in city streets and malls around the country. One of the Army's most spectacular accomplishments was raising $88 million on donations after Sept. 11. "Of this sum, $70 million have been spent so far; the rest is budgeted for 2003," said Jones.

For a small church, the Salvation Army maintains an extraordinary array of services. They range from soup kitchens and shelters to buying toys for needy children, and distributing shoes, clothes and furniture.

But its ministry goes far beyond that. After Sept. 11, five women officers gave pastoral care to New York policemen and firemen, whose task it was to haul body parts of their fallen buddies out of the rubble at Ground Zero and place them in refrigeration trucks. "This was my most moving experience," said Jones. "Public officials asked us, 'How come these women know precisely when to sit and weep with these men, when to pray or be silent, when to put their arms around them?'"

Salvation Army officers, of whom there are more than 5,000 in the United States and 25,000 worldwide, are ordained ministers who work long hours in return for a scanty stipend. "A lieutenant earns $10,000 a year, has his parsonage paid for and drives an Army-owned vehicle," Jones related. "Higher-ranking officers receive marginally more."

Some Salvation Army officers holding important secular jobs turn their entire income over to the church in return for a meager stipend and a home. One such case is that of Col. Herbert C. Rader, a prominent New York surgeon. He and his wife, also an officer, live frugally on $20,000 annually.

But like other pastors, Salvation Army officers work up to 70 hours per week, especially in Advent. In addition to organizing aid projects, instructing volunteers, counting the money they collect, visiting the sick and holding Bible study classes, each officer conducts at least three services per week, according to Jones.

On the other hand, hardly any other religious group is more beloved, especially since Sept. 11, although the Salvation Army, too, has its detractors. "Sometimes our bell ringers have their kettles kidnapped," related Jones. And what about atheists and agnostics who hate any display of religion in the public square -- do they accost his bell-ringing soldiers?

"Yes, we have that as well," Jones replied, "but thank God not all too often."