Knoxify

The Sal­va­tion Army has been meet­ing phys­i­cal, emo­tional and spir­i­tual needs with­out dis­crim­i­na­tion in the Knoxville area since 1899. Most peo­ple know them for the bells and red ket­tles at Christ­mas time, but most are unaware of the his­tory or the extent of their pro­grams and services.

The Thomp­son Cen­ter of Hope, The Sal­va­tion Army’s home on Broad­way, actu­ally houses five shel­ter pro­grams in addi­tion to the church facil­i­ties, com­mu­nity cen­ter and admin­is­tra­tive offices. There are two res­i­den­tial pro­grams for men, two for women, includ­ing the Joy Baker Cen­ter for vic­tims of domes­tic vio­lence, and the Shafer Fam­ily Cen­ter, Knoxville’s only emer­gency fam­ily shel­ter. Each of the res­i­den­tial pro­grams requires res­i­dents to have jobs, share in chores and work with case man­agers towards a more per­ma­nent hous­ing solution.

The Sal­va­tion Army’s emer­gency assis­tance pro­gram, which aims to pre­vent home­less­ness, helps bridge the gap between unex­pected expenses and income for nearly 30,000 peo­ple a year, pro­vid­ing things like gro­ceries, cloth­ing, fuel and assis­tance with util­i­ties. The church min­istries pro­vide the sup­port of a spir­i­tual com­mu­nity for all ages. Dis­as­ter relief pro­grams pro­vide food, spir­i­tual sup­port and prac­ti­cal help for vic­tims of nat­ural disasters.

83 cents of every dol­lar you donate goes directly to pro­grams and ser­vices. Now, more than ever, The Sal­va­tion Army needs your help to con­tinue “doing the most good.” Help The Sal­va­tion Army this month pro­vide school sup­plies for chil­dren whose fam­i­lies are stay­ing in the shel­ter or who come for emer­gency assis­tance. Give your $5 by going here. Thank you!

First Fri­day Five is our online giv­ing project that pro­files one local non-profit orga­ni­za­tion each month. Put your $5 to work.