Salvation Army Is Vigorous Social Welfare Organisation

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27973, 21 May 1956, Page 14

Salvation Army Is Vigorous Social Welfare Organisation

[Contributed]

One of the most vigorous social welfare and spiritual organisations is the Salvation Army whose work is being carried on in more than 80 countries throughout the world. The Army’s contribution to the welfare of mankind is much appreciated in New Zealand, and particularly in Canterbury. where its record of social and evangelistic service has been an outstanding one.

Christchurch people will have the opportunity of giving generous support to the Salvation Army when it holds its annual street day on Wednesday. The Salvation Army is operating live social welfare institutions and one Samaritan (or general relief) centre in the Canterbury province. These include two eventide homes for women —Sunshine Lodge, Papanui road, and Resthaven, Colombo street —a men’s social service centre at Addington, a maternity hospital (Bethany), and a boys’ home at Temuka. But these institutions are only a part of the whole gamut of social welfare which spreads throughout New Zealand and is closely interlocked.

An ..example of the close integration of Salvation Army social services is the fact that Senior-Major Jean Bennett, Samaritan Officer in Christchurch, may send a brother and sister to the Whatman Home, Masterton, so as to keep the two together. Similarly Senior-Major Elizabeth Drummond, interviewing a single woman who is expecting a baby, may well consider that it would be in the better interests of the girl to send her_to a Salvation Army hospital in another centre. Corps officers are agents in the Army’s social programme. Recently a corps officer found a man for whom the 'Army’s Missing Friends Bureau—whose search is world-wide—had been searching for six years Another corps officer visiting an area received complaints from a woman that the children next door were left alone locked up during the day and that their cries distressed her. The officer found the father in a billiards salon. He excused himself by saying that his wife had left him and that he had noone to take care of the children. The officer’s wife bathed and fed the two small children, both under five. They were sent to the Army’s home for tiny tots —“The Nest,” Hamilton, and later, by consent of both parents, adopted by a childless couple. The officers in charge of the Army’s institutions have some real human interest stories in their case-records. The matron of one of the Christchurch eventide homes tells of two women who entered the home undernourished, and in consequence suffering from mental deterioration. 'They recovered rapidly when given good food regularly and provided with the extra care that the aged need. They had both been running a business in a small town but had carried it on too long. Advancing years had taken their toll and both were found living in conditions that spoke of their inability to meet the demands of life. Neighbours had drawn the Army’s attention to their plight. Each day in the courts of Christchurch—and indeed in every city in New Zealand—may be seen the Salvation Army police court officer. The ne’er-do-well is sure of a friend in the Salvationist. In Christchurch SeniorMajor Jean Bennett (for the women and girls) and Senior-Major Frank Hay

(for the men and boys) often take offenders under their care, or take prisoners on remand. They have helped many of these to start again and build better lives. Both of these officers are also prison visitors, and both arrange for concert parties, and Salvation Army bands and songsters to give programmes in the prison.

Senior-Major Hay in addition to his duties as police court officer supervises the Men’s Social Service Centre at Addington, which houses 60 men nightly. Senior-Major Jean Bennett is also Samaritan officer and as such provides for emergency relief—baby clothes for an expectant mother who has had to face unexpected circumstances, lodgings and clothes for a family burned out of home, finding work for girls who have come to the city from the country, care of wives whose husbands are in prison and who, perhaps, lived in towns far distant from Christchurch—these and many other demands the major must meet daily as the needs arise. The Army also has a widespread medical and educational work in countries like Indonesia, Malaya, India, and Africa, running hospitals, clinics, dispensaries, leper colonies, schools, colleges, and much else.

The Salvation Army is largely dependent upon its annual Self-Denial Appeal to finance its work. The street day is a part of this main appeal and those on the street on Wednesday are asked to give generously.