thing you went through, they went through, too.” Herod, who was new to the corps when the program began, agrees. At the beginning, she knew only one of the other participants, but she quickly became friends with the others. “I felt comfortable and happy,” she says. Major Folkins notes that even though the course was supposed to run for six weeks, it actually ran for 12 weeks because the women wanted to continue meeting together. A new session of Sally’s Kitchen began last month. Major Folkins hopes to run the program biannually. Care and Share Feeding hundreds of individuals and families each month is no small task, but the Salvation Army food bank and soup kitchen in Chilliwack, B.C., has tons of help—literally. “We are surrounded by farms so, during the summer, we get about two tons of fresh produce every week,” says Brenda Armstrong, family services director at the Care and Share Centre. “The community looks after us. They’re very good at making sure that we have the products we need, and if for any reason we put an SOS out there, within 24 hours, somebody will have met that need.” The Salvation Army is the
Plant a Row, Grow a Row
only registered food bank in Chilliwack and it is one of the five largest in British Columbia. It has been offering fresh food since it opened 26 years ago. When produce is donated, it goes to the soup kitchen first, and then to the food bank for distribution through food hampers. Any leftover produce is then placed in the Care and Share Centre’s bread room. By offering a soup kitchen, food bank and bread room, the centre is able to assist a wide range of people. The soup kitchen is open for lunch Monday to Friday, and serves 125-200 adults a healthy, free meal every day. Of this number, there is a core group of about 60 people who eat at the soup kitchen every day. “They come partly for the fellowship, but many of them do not have access to kitchen facilities and some do not know how to cook,” says Armstrong, adding that many soup kitchen clients are struggling with addictions or mental illness. Usually, clients are middle-aged, though Armstrong says she has seen a recent increase in the number of younger people. Many soup kitchen clients also make use of the bread room, which is open three times a day and does not require clients to make an appointment to receive food. The soup kitchen and
This summer and fall, the Care and Share Centre’s food services will receive a produce boost thanks to the Plant a Row, Grow a Row (PARGAR) program. PARGAR is a national campaign that encourages gardeners to plant an extra row of vegetables and then donate the harvest to local food banks and soup kitchens. In 2011, Food Matters Chilliwack—which co-ordinates PARGAR in the community—donated 572 kilograms of fresh produce to The Salvation Army. Organizers hope to exceed that total in 2012. This year, food was donated in July, August and September. The final food drop-off will take place on October 13.
Volunteer Cleon Sawyer prepares food hampers at the Chilliwack Care and Share food bank
Patsy Parlee, Vanessa Parlee and Amy Parlee make pizza dough at Sally’s Kitchen
bread room are complemented by the food bank, which primarily ser ves families. During an average month, the food bank distributes more than 500 food hampers to households ranging in size from one person to 10 people. Households can receive a hamper nine times per year (plus a Christmas hamper), but the food bank treats every case individually and will accommodate special circumstances. Understanding a client’s needs is important to providing the best assistance, says Armstrong, and that is why The Salvation Army makes appointments with each client. “I really have an issue w ith the ‘cattle lineup’ approach, where everybody stands in line and they get a bag, but you never get to meet anybody,” Armstrong says. “Our clients sit down with one of our intake workers and we find out what their
needs are.” These appointments often result in referrals to other services, both at The Salvation Army and in the community, and they give intake workers an opportunity to offer nutritional advice and recipes to go with the food in the hampers. By connecting with clients on an individual basis, Armstrong believes that The Salvation Army is also better able to serve them spiritually. “We make sure they know that if they ever need to talk about their spiritual life, then there are people at the centre who are more than happy to listen and be a part of that,” she says. “We need to show people how much God loves them, and one of the ways that we can do that is by meeting their physical needs,” Armstrong adds. “It has been really exciting to see how God uses the food bank and the soup kitchen to remind people of his great love.” Salvationist I October 2012 I 13