Welcome to the secret stash. Our crowd-favorites, cued up just for you to enjoy.

First things first: You’ve probably seen the red kettles and thrift stores, and while we’re rightfully well known for both…The Salvation Army is so much more than red kettles and thrift stores. So who are we? What do we do? Where? Right this way for Salvation Army 101.

How The Salvation Army fights addiction 

• 📺 Watch | “Meth, Money and Madness”: Paul had, what many would consider, the good life. A high paying career, married with two children, and an ocean view home. He longed for the seemingly limitless energy of colleagues, eventually became addicted to crystal meth, and spiraled downward. Watch him share how he overcame addiction and entrusted his life to Christ.
• 📰 Read | Behind the scenes of Salvation Army thrift stores: See how The Salvation Army provides free rehabilitation to thousands each year.
• 🎙Listen | Making the choice to transform:  Have you heard the saying that God uses broken people to do great things? That’s good news for all of us, and if you haven’t yet been personally invited to know more—consider this episode especially for you. Lt. Paul Chisholm is on the show to share more about his own testimony and why he knows firsthand that discipleship—relationship—makes all the difference in making the choice to do things differently, to evolve.
• 📰Read | Restorative art brings healing to women recovering from addiction: Do you find it easy or difficult to forgive others? That’s a question women from the Denver Adult Rehabilitation Center (ARC) discussed to begin a recent restorative art session focused on forgiveness through a program called Create: New Beginnings. In partnership with Prison Fellowship, sessions cover topics like reconciliation, empathy, shame, self doubt and courage, using discussion, Scripture, prayer and art to aid in the healing process. 
• 🎙Listen | ‘The Salvation Army saved my life’ with Joseph Valadez: Joseph graduated this year from Cal State University, Long Beach on the president’s honor list with a bachelor’s degree in sociology. He’s 63. And he spent much of his life addicted to heroin. Joseph went to prison a staggering 40 times on various drug-related offenses before entering The Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center in Anaheim, California. He’s on the show to share how it saved his life—and what’s next. 

How The Salvation Army fights disaster

• 📺 Watch | 8 personal stories of how The Salvation Army is right there with you: As the need grew due to COVID-19, The Salvation Army went into emergency response mode across the country to provide food programs and shelter services. See eight personal examples of how exactly The Salvation Army is right there with you during a disaster.
• 🎙 Listen | How to cope with anxiety and find calm: The pandemic caused a feeling of collective unsettling. So how do we cope when anxieties strike? As clinical psychologist Dr. Jack Anderson will tell you, fear is natural, it’s instinctive. But calmness has to be learned. Hear how we can cope with fear to take on a mindset of hope.
• 📺 Watch | The History of Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services: The Salvation Army has existed to serve without discrimination since its founding in 1865, and has faithfully kept that tradition of service ever since. Here’s a brief overview of The Salvation Army’s Emergency Disaster Service responses throughout the years.
• 📰Read | Technology partnership brings drones and manpower to disaster response: When the Telegraph and Mescal fires burned in Gila County, Arizona, in June 2021, first responders with the Gila County Emergency Management Office had access to an additional resource to assist with damage assessment: drones. See how the drones, piloted by members of the Axon Aid drone team, enhanced situational awareness in the rapidly evolving natural disaster at hand.  
• 🎙Listen | Life inside an emergency shelter during a pandemic: The Salvation Army Orange County’s Anaheim Emergency Shelter is a temporary home to 224 individuals. While there, residents have a place to stay, meals and job and housing services. And amid the pandemic, Site Supervisor Benjamin Anozie said The Salvation Army adapted life at the shelter to increase the safety of residents. He said the crisis forced a deeper reflection among his team and for himself about why they do the work they do—despite the risks.

How The Salvation Army fights hunger

• 🎙Listen | How The Salvation Army is getting food to patients in need: Hunger is a new reality for many as the coronavirus has taken hold of communities across the country, and as a result, The Salvation Army stepped up its services to meet the need. In Denver, Lt. Sarah Aguirre said the Denver West Adams Corps increased the amount of food it distributes by 75 percent.  
• 📰Read | The Salvation Army delivers food boxes with dignity in Juneau: A group of drivers who deliver between 60-100 boxes weekly from The Salvation Army Juneau Corps. The corps started the food box delivery program in 2020 as a way to safely distribute food during the pandemic.  
• 📰Read | Kitchens For Good: Delicious meals and second chances in San Diego: See how collaboration at the Door Of Hope Rady Campus has helped interested residents launch culinary careers through the Kitchens for Good apprenticeship program. 
• 🎙Listen | Pathway of Hope: The state of poverty today and what it means for families with Dr. Elaine Waxman: Is poverty a solvable issue? Dr. Elaine Waxman says yes. She is a senior fellow in the Income and Benefits Policy Center at the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research organization that believes decisions shaped by facts, rather than ideology, have the power to improve public policy and practice, strengthen communities, and transform people’s lives for the better. Listen in as she helps us better understand the state of poverty in the U.S., what this means for families and the strategies that point to a way out. 
• 📰 Read | Salvation Army helps San Francisco’s food vendors while feeding homeless: The pandemic changed the business landscape in San Francisco. Longtime small businesses closed down and large department stores shuttered. But The Salvation Army is doing its part to help San Francisco’s economy while also countering food insecurity. 

How The Salvation Army fights homelessness

• 📰 Read |  Street Level program expands to reach more people living in cars: The Street Level program began in 2019, and has since helped more than 400 people gain permanent housing—and it continues to grow. 
• 📰 Read | One step at a time on the Pathway of Hope: With individual aspirations in mind, The Salvation Army is helping families create a plan of action to stop the chronic cycle of poverty. 
• 📰 Read | Outreach team works with BART to engage those who seek shelter at transit stations: The Street Homeless Outreach and Wellness team (SHOW) was developed in partnership with the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) as a public health response to engage and stabilize the most vulnerable and at-risk individuals experiencing homelessness who seek shelter in BART stations. 
• 📺 Watch | Tiny Homes, Big Hopes: Welcome to the Salvation Village: Some barriers to success are too big to face alone. But what happens when Los Angeles City Council’s District 15, LA Harbor College, and The Salvation Army create a compassionate and professional community? For those experiencing homelessness, it’s an opportunity to achieve dreams, together.
• 📰 Read | Salvation Village participant sees ‘no reason to give up,’ as God’s brought him ‘too far’: At 58-years-old, Marcello Moscato is pursuing his GED certificate with hopes of attending Harbor College’s culinary arts program after 20-years of cooking experience. 
• 🎙Listen | Pathway of Hope: Why we need community with Trina Crawford: As the Director of The Salvation Army Service Center in Havre, Montana, Trina becomes part of the “village” for those in the Pathway of Hope. She becomes a daily fixture in their lives, checking in with them, providing tangible help and resources, directing them toward community and reminding them of the hope that exists in Christ. How does she do it? Why does she do it? And what impact has she seen through the years?

How The Salvation Army fights for youth

• 🎙 Listen | I felt seen, valued and safe at camp: Every summer thousands of kids attend one of 12 Salvation Army camps across the West, many of them on scholarships funded by generous donors. Mechale Mency is one of them and she’s on the show to share what she remembers of camp and the experience she had there that made her want to be an experience for others today. Now, as the principal of Garfield Elementary School in San Diego, she’s out to make sure kids feel seen and valued, and learn to value others—just as she did at camp. 
• 📰 Read | In Portland, youth grow while having fun in The Salvation Army’s troops program: What started with 15 youth participants, The Salvation Army’s informal, character-building Christian education “troops” program grew to more than 50 children in the middle of the pandemic in Portland, all with virtual programming.
• 📺 Watch | “Human Hearts”: A young ballerina with cerebral palsy is bullied for her differences but braves the stage. Follow along with the corresponding four-part Scripture study, starting here with part one.   
• 🎙 Listen | How The Salvation Army offers emergency foster care in Spokane: When law enforcement or Child Protective Services removes a little one from their home due to neglect or abuse, where do they go? In Spokane, Washington, many come to Sally’s House—an emergency receiving facility of The Salvation Army of Spokane for those ages 2 to 12 years old. Program Manager Becky Hoogstad said the number one goal is to make sure each one knows they are safe and loved. She’s on the show to share more about life inside this home for 20 children at a time. 
• 🎙 Listen | Creating a safe place for kids to be themselves: Hear one Salvation Army officer (or pastor) share her philosophy on the Do Gooders Podcast about instilling confidence in a young person today so they’ll be ready to face tomorrow—plus one tangible way you can get involved right now.
• 📰 Read | How to teach young children about Jesus: Raising and teaching children to love the Lord is one of the greatest responsibilities a Christian adult has, but how do we do it?  

How The Salvation Army fights for seniors 

• 📰 Read | Tech program is helping seniors participate in life online: In Chula Vista, California, a six-month grant project aims to reduce social isolation and loneliness among lower income older adults through the use of technology.  
• 📰 Read | Salvation Army officers patrol Oakland Chinatown to bring seniors peace of mind: The Salvation Army Oakland Chinatown Corps, in the heart of Oakland Chinatown, saw the increased fear in the community and the need for the community to come together to keep each other safe after a pandemic-fueled increase in anti-Asian hate speech and attacks on Asians—especially the elderly. So, representatives joined weekly foot patrols to discourage crime in Oakland Chinatown and help assure the community.
• 🎙 Listen | Meet the helpers: Sarah Bentley created a support line for seniors to call any time during the pandemic: Listen as Sarah Bentley shares about the Silver Line, a toll-free phone line seniors could call in the midst of COVID-19 for emotional and spiritual support, and the calls she received.
• 📰 Read | Can volunteering ward off depression? Studies show maintaining social connection is key when trying to help alleviate symptoms. So while volunteering might not be a cure-all, see more about what it can do.