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Hayward, Calif. corps ministry honored.
The Eden chapter of Church Women United in Castro Valley, Calif., recently awarded Major C. Patrick Granat, Hayward Calif., corps officer, the national Church Women United Human Rights Award.
An interfaith organization that recognizes leadership in socially meaningful programs, Church Women United selected Granat’s ministry because of the increased social activity of the corps in Hayward and a strengthened public witness to the presence of Christ’s redemptive work in the community.
Granat accepted the award and spoke on, “Soup, Soap and Salvation”—highlighting the extensive feeding programs of the corps, the social uplift of the Oakland ARC program and the corps’ evident spiritual advance.
Jokingly, Granat remarked that because his wife speaks Chinese and he speaks German, the Army sent them to a neighborhood where Spanish is the main language and knew they could adjust. The corps has become a miniature United Nations—as people from various Latin-American countries, families from India and others with African, Asian and European roots come together to worship God.
Surprised to receive the human rights award, Granat said, “It is humbling to think that an officer is held in high esteem just by living unto the Lord and maintaining the Army’s mission.”
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