Every year as December rolls around, Christmas “angels” from The Salvation Army’s Revolution Hawaii program gear up for a holiday season full of delivering meals, organizing gifts and raising money for those in need across multiple Hawaiian islands.
Revolution Hawaii, a 14-week program based in Oahu, gives young adults ages 18-25 an opportunity to live more like Jesus. This fall, 10 participants from various cultures and backgrounds joined in.
As Christmas neared, participants were dispatched throughout the Hawaiian islands as Christmas Angels to support The Salvation Army’s mission during the Christmas season.
However, the Revolution Hawaii program didn’t just begin spreading love at Christmas. In November, the angels served 800 hot Thanksgiving meals, 420 of which were sent to the senior community in Kona.
In December, the group switched gears to sort and bag toy donations for the Angel Tree program, which provides Christmas gifts for keiki (children) and kupuna (seniors). The program aims to help families across the Hawaiian islands create some magic during the holiday season despite economic challenges.
Director Rob Noland has led Revolution Hawaii for 19 years. His role includes marketing, recruiting, applicant processing, curriculum, teaching, discipling and mediating.
“I am an officer’s kid and also was in charge of a corps for over 20 years, so I know how hard corps officers work during the Christmas season,” Noland said. “I know that the angels do a lot of bellringing, but they are also often asked to preach sermons, lead Bible studies and run youth groups.”
By the time the angels are sent out for the holidays, they will have spent 11 weeks in the program, ready to serve the community.
“We focus on servant leadership, so by the time they head out on their Christmas mission, they are well versed on how to love and serve others,” Noland said.
Program members have set schedules every week, filled with long days of reflection, prayer time, volunteering and outreach activities, assigned readings and nightly prayers.
“The Lord is doing some seriously incredible things with Revolution Hawaii and it’s an honor to be a part of this family.”
Hannah Trayler
“Team members discuss, process and absorb readings within a group of other members whom they never knew before, in the close quarters…you bare your soul and bear each other’s burdens,” Noland said. “This is one of the toughest parts of their mission.”
Kona Corps Officer Captain Shawn Keoho has experienced the support of the Christmas angels. In past holiday seasons, they’ve helped with tasks like bellringing at red kettle sites and preparing the food pantry.
“The Revolution Hawaii Christmas Angels help me help others; I wouldn’t be able to do all the things I do without them,” Keoho said. “As one single officer, it can sometimes be difficult to be in three places at one time.”
The support the angels provide Keoho every holiday season inspires her to pour back into the volunteers and support them in their faith.
“I love the opportunity to share and feed into their Christian faith through our morning meetings, involving devotions, Scripture exegesis and prayer time for struggles they might be experiencing,” Keoho said. “I also have a responsibility to pastor these young ladies into a deeper understanding of their faith and personal relationship with Jesus.”
Hannah Trayler, who took part in Revolution Hawaii from 2022-2023, has fond memories of her time serving the community during Christmas.
“Getting to help the corps officers during one of their busiest seasons, Christmas, was so much fun and so rewarding because we worked so hard…and helped take some stress away from what’s already a super stressful time,” Trayler said.
One of her favorite memories involved building relationships with those she served.
“We would go out into the streets of Chinatown every Sunday night and pass out free sandwiches and water to our houseless friends around there, as well as offer prayer if they wanted,” Trayler said. “The Lord is doing some seriously incredible things with Revolution Hawaii and it’s an honor to be a part of this family.”
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