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Members join in the mission of The Salvation Army at this trilingual corps in California’s San Gabriel Valley.
Every week, a celebration of service takes place at The Salvation Army San Gabriel (California) Corps.
It’s a tradition. Early in the Sunday church service, under the unassuming title “Information and Reporting,” a PowerPoint presentation gives a roundup of the corps’ impact within the community, and in turn, how the community helps them do it.
San Gabriel Corps Officer Captain Richard Wang prepares the presentation—filled with photos and stories of the service activities that week, like, “Captain Richard Wang, with Christopher Wang, presented fruits to community gardeners to express their appreciation.”
The story was met with a round of applause, as is every story.
It’s a highlight of the meeting. Wang said he prepares the weekly report to encourage attendees to join The Salvation Army in serving others.
“I do this to show the uniqueness of The Salvation Army corps so that people know we are both a worship center and a service center,” he said. “It’s a corps where everyone joins the service.”
Two corps members present the Powerpoint, reading each story in English and Mandarin—the San Gabriel Corps is multilingual, with church services in the languages, and sometimes Cantonese.
This reflects the community. Within the entire San Gabriel Valley, the Asian American population is larger than it is in the cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago, according to Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California.
“They have found how wonderful it is to be able to give to others, just as they have been blessed to receive.”
Joanna Wang
“In many of their hometowns, the idea of serving others in the community who are in need is not common,” Captain Joanna Wang said. “As a result, when they first come to the San Gabriel Salvation Army, many are surprised by all of the opportunities that we all have to take part in serving others in this way.”
The corps provides food, household supplies, resource information and prayers to individuals and families in need, with food insecurity being the biggest need in the community, Joanna Wang said.
“We do our best to meet that need through emergency food distribution done through appointments and drop-ins, as well as a senior food distribution that we have monthly, working with the LA Food Bank,” she said, noting the food distributions are possible due to the corps’ partnerships with several local businesses.
A recent PowerPoint report acknowledged corps members and volunteers who helped over 96 families and over 110 individuals that week, organizing the food together with the volunteers.
The corps encourages everyone to own The Salvation Army mission: to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in his name without discrimination. And when a corps member becomes a soldier and puts on The Salvation Army uniform, it represents their promise to serve God by serving others.
Joshua Zhang wanted to wear the uniform. He’s been coming to the corps for two years and became a soldier in December 2023.
“I think I’m living daily the life of following Jesus,” he said.
Zhang said for him, following Jesus is about serving others, remembering Jesus himself said he did not come to be served, but to serve (Mark 10:45).
He helps with the weekly food distributions and plays guitar with the worship team during Sunday services.
As corps members help others, Joanna Wang said she’s noticed that they also receive something in return.
“They have found how wonderful it is to be able to give to others, just as they have been blessed to receive,” she said. “This helps them feel that they are a part of something bigger than themselves.”
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