Salvation Army

[Lydia Leftcoast]

37. I used to volunteer for a Salvation Army program for homeless youth

About 1/3 of the youth were GLBT and had been kicked out of their homes by ignorant/bigoted parents.

There was never any discrimination against the GLBT kids. The SA officers even tried to talk sense into the parents of these kids, explaining that punishment wouldn't change their child's orientation and that living on the streets could be a death sentence. I'd hear them speaking in exasperated tones about, for instance, one family that would take their gay son back only if he joined the football team--as if his orientation were the result of insufficient athletics. (In general, the SA officers tried to work out a reconciliation between the kids and their parents, no matter why the kid had been thrown out or run away, unless it was clear that the home was abusive.)

Some of my fellow volunteers were gay or lesbian. The only requirements for volunteering were that we had to pass a police background check, attend two full-day orientations about street culture and the institutional culture that the SA was trying to maintain (no violence, no negotiations for drugs or sex, no bigoted remarks--any of which would result in being banned from the premises for a certain length of time), write an essay about why we wanted to volunteer, and have an interview in which we discussed the essay with an officer. Nobody even asked what my religious convictions were.

The center provided an evening meal 365 days a year, with prepared food donated by local churches or other groups of volunteers. (A group might bring in some pans of lasagne, some salads, and some garlic bread, for instance). The kids could take showers, "shop" for donated clothes or personal care supplies, or just hang out in a lounge equipped with a TV, board and card games, and books and magazines. Sometimes volunteers came in to teach crafts or art techniques.

The kids could also come in during the day to be tutored for their GEDs, and if they did, they also got lunch (an incentive, for sure).

An informal church service was offered on Sunday mornings, but no one was required to attend.

There was a support group for single mothers, not all of whom were homeless, but all of whom were rather young to be responsible for a child or two or three.

One spring, a staff member started a softball team, and the kids played against clients of other social service agencies. Various volunteers worked on getting free tickets for things, including dress rehearsals for the Portland Opera. (And yes, there were kids who enjoyed that.) They even held a prom every spring, with formal clothes and hair styles and make-up all donated.

At one point, the downtown merchants started complaining that this Salvation Army program was too much into maintaining the kids on the streets and not doing enough to get them into permanent housing. (Never mind that a lot of the kids were too young to work legally, there wasn't enough housing for them, and many of them had had bad experiences in foster homes. Even so, about 1/3 of their clients did make it off the streets.)

The Salvation Army lost its contract for providing services for homeless youth as a result of the complaints.

Three other agencies took over.

In the remaining two years of my life in Portland, I sometimes ran into former clients of the Salvation Army program. Those who were still homeless complained that the other programs weren't as well organized and didn't seem as savvy about the realities of life on the streets as the Salvation Army was.

Anyway, my experience with this Salvation Army program was that they understood the population they were working with, did not display any bigotry toward either the kids or volunteers who were GLBT, and provided valuable support for kids who were trying to survive under tough circumstances.