Salvation Army uses your donations to turn lives around

By Dustin Grove (grove@wsbt.com)

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Salvation Army

The Salvation Army says they are in desperate need of donations to keep their thrift stores full and fund their faith-based programs. (WSBT photo)

By Beth Boehne

Story Created: May 6, 2009 at 12:29 PM EST

Story Updated: May 11, 2009 at 11:17 PM EST

SOUTH BEND — Since January, you've helped your Neighbors in Need by collecting money and food. Now you can help again by donating clothes and household items to the Salvation Army. WSBT is teaming up with area agencies to help with demand, and found that donating does much more than just put clothes on someone's back. It can also put them back on their feet.

At The Salvation Army downtown South Bend, the clothes are coming in and Jonathan Stanton couldn't be more thankful. Clothing helped save his life.

"I just was at my wit's end basically when I walked through the door,” he said.

Stanton was college-educated and enjoying a career in the RV manufacturing industry, but then began drinking and eventually quit his job.

"Basically I just didn't want to feel anymore,” he said.

He turned to The Salvation Army, and is going through the agency's faith-based programs to get back on his feet. Months later, Stanton says he's well on his way.

“To me, as long as I'm right with Christ, everything else falls into place,” he said.

Today, The Salvation Army has 63 men enrolled in its drug and alcohol therapy program.

Your donations — turned around and sold in Salvation Army thrift stores — literally help keep the lights on.

The problem is, donations are down. Normally, workers process 12,000 pieces of clothing a day. On the day we visited, they sorted less than half that.

"We reach a point where, when donations go down, when we no longer have those items to put in the store, people stop shopping,” explained Maj. Timothy Best of The Salvation Army.

So The Salvation Army is now pleading with the public to reach deeper into that back closet, clean out the basement, and give what you can.

“Just day by day things have gotten better,” Stanton added.

“It provides an opportunity for a man to be restored to his family, to be a father to his children again, and to become a productive member of our society,” Best said.

You can take your donation to any St. Vincent de Paul or Salvation Army location, or bring the clothes to the WSBT Studios Friday, May 15 from 5 a.m. – 7 p.m. That's when we're having our Clothes-Out donation drive. Click here for more information.

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