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As The Salvation Army’s Emergency/Disaster Services vehicles deploy throughout Southern California amid historic wildfires, they spread the message “Hope is on the Way.”
But how does The Salvation Army spread hope to those experiencing their worst days?
Salvation Army Santa Monica Corps Officer and EDS Officer Captain James Fleming starts with a conversation.
“We’re asking people their names; we’re making sure we’re having relationship,” he said. “I’m not just feeding people. This isn’t an assembly line like that.”
Fleming and the Santa Monica Corps have been serving at a pair of shelters in West Los Angeles—Westwood Recreation Center and Stoner Recreation Center—since Jan. 8 and Jan 10, respectively.
Their efforts are part of The Salvation Army’s greater response to the Southern California wildfires, meeting human needs by offering meals, refreshments and a listening ear, among other offerings.
At the shelters, which are operated by the American Red Cross, The Salvation Army is tasked with feeding evacuees—planning and organizing the meals, meal times and serving the meals. They also provide emotional and spiritual care.
Fleming said several people from the team of volunteers and staff from The Salvation Army Santa Monica Corps are always walking around, talking and checking on people, getting to know them and their needs.
“That’s how we bring them hope. It’s making them feel seen, not just like somebody laying in a cot…these are people with us,” he said. “Their lives are in a bad spot, so we’re walking around just building relationships and making sure they feel seen.”
At the Westwood Recreation Center, Santa Monica Corps soldier and volunteer Destiny Elias was a part of a group that prepared some 240 sandwiches served alongside salad, snacks and beverages Jan. 9.
“I just felt really bad for the people,” she said. “I know they’re going through it emotionally and physically, so the least I could do is just be there for them, and try to help them.”
Fleming said each day brings its own challenges, and life in the shelter wears on people—the cots hurt their backs, people are frustrated living five feet apart from others and not being able to have private conversations.
One woman at the Westwood Recreation Center was having a hard time. Fleming said having seen her for two or three days, she looked like she was in a bad spot.
He tried having a conversation with her, and she wouldn’t let him in emotionally, he said. Eventually, he asked “What do you need? Let me help you.”
And so Santa Monica Corps Outreach Case Manager Sandra Gutierrez was able to get her an Uber to go to her storage unit and get her medication, he said.
“She came back a couple hours later, and she was like, ‘Thank you so much,’” he said. “Every individual has their own thing going on that is to that extreme where they just need their one thing…They’re missing this one element in their life right now.”
So as the response wears on, and looks like it will be continuing for quite some time, Fleming said he’s trying to make it special. One night he bought sodas for some variety and another, ice cream.
“I try to do something a little special so that people can feel that we care and that we love them, and that we’re trying to get them through this,” he said.
With reporting by Hillary Jackson and John Docter
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