FEATURE

JAN ZUNIGA: “I NEEDED TO SEE...THE AMAZING CLOSENESS OF ORANGE.”

By Holly Westbrook

L“Last year He took it all away from me. I had no energy.” Salvation Army Core Officer Jan Zuniga needed a tonsillectomy badly, yet, she speaks of her ability to serve through ministry and not her illness. Jan is very passionate about her role in the Army as a Captain and admitted that letting other’s help in coordinating events, such as the Angel Tree, is difficult for her due to the many years of serving. But she needed rest and healing before and after the surgery.

Feeling that she let down the community when the perfectly planned surgery hit a roadblock and was unable to attend Toy Coffee brought the mother of two down even more. But “everyone was helping,” she said, yet this too, was hard. “I kept getting up to do things and people would tell me to sit back down. I put everything, everyone first above me.” “I needed to see last Christmas to see the amazing closeness of Orange. It wasn’t just one group of people that came out to help when I was sick, but many groups and individuals

showed just how much this community cares for each other.” “When we moved here to Orange, I needed healing. Yet, Orange needed us at full capacity at that point.” Harvey devastated even those who came to help.

Jan put herself on the backburner and to cope became a workaholic giving more of herself than was healthy. “I was falling apart more and more, losing and losing. Reality is last year I totally was broken apart emotionally, relationship wise, socially and physically.” Now thanks to the community within Orange County, she now is finding herself once more and able to serve others at the capacity she previously did. Orange, she said, reminds her of the small communities she’s lived in while “flitting everywhere” with her family, in college and with the Army.

“I know I’m busy, but I’m still mom. It’s a priority to have my kids to know I’m here for them.” Not always having the time to bake and cook with her two girls one on one with them outside work and community service, Jan takes every opportunity to be with them. The girls come to service every Sunday. Jan’s most prominent years, her teens, were spent in Little Rock, Arkansas and she said segregation was still an issue in the ‘90s. This also helped Jan later on in life to be open-minded in her determination that everyone deserves love and respect. “You wouldn’t think that this (separation of race and gender) would happen today (talking about in the 1990’s).

She’s glad that her daughter, Sophia, gets to “experience the same small-town closeness” that she had in her childhood. With neighbor’s feeling like friends and children playing from house to house. “The heartbeat of the Army was a significant part of who I was growing up. Here (my girls) get to experience the small-town feel.” Right now, she is on the PTA for her oldest daughter and a room mom.

“But because of the history of the city and the segregation law, it is still there (for the community),” Jan explained, going on to tell a story of how a school almost wouldn’t accept her brother but would her because there wasn’t a spot for a Caucasian male, yet one for a female in the preforming arts school. Reading to relax and traveling are two of her passions. Before coming to Orange, they had not long returned from another trip for the Army.

“I love to travel. If you want to know me outside of the Army, then travel (would be the best way.) Her first opportunity with the Army to help internationally was in the Republic of Georgia, formally of Russia. After that it was to Cape Town, South Africa for a conference, Mexico City, Mexico to visit a Salvation Army run children’s Home and on to Canada later.

The latest trip outside the U.S. sent her back to South Africa where she was immersed in local culture in the outskirts of Johannesburg. There Jan was able to experience to of the largest Sowetos while giving of herself in return. As a person, Jan has a bad habit of downplaying herself and her accomplishments. “I under rate that I have a voice.” She dislikes the fact that she doesn’t speak up on what The Salvation Army needs are because in the long run it hurts the community. “I truly care about the kids in the Boys and Girls club and hope they grow and reach the moon. You can do anything you want to do.” Within the Salvation Army both men and women have equal rights to minister, and you move from congregation to congregation. When you move on depends on your assignments.

“People may call it (being a minister) a job, but for (me) this is not a job. Everyone’s got something to give. Love is shown not just with words but with action. I will always have the freedom to minister. I’m not going to get caught up on where I am, so I’m given the freedom just to serve.” This coming up year Jan will be a Core Officer, meaning a minister for the Salvation Army, for 12 years. “Even if I wasn’t in the Salvation Army,” Jan said, “I think I would still give back to others in another way. It’s just the type of person I am.” 