The History of the Organization
The nonprofit organization was established in 1865 by William Booth. Among other founders of the Salvation Army are Catherine Booth, Evangeline Booth, Joseph Garabed, aka Joe the Turk, Eliza Shirley, George Scott Railton, and Samuel Logan Brengle. Catherine Booth was William’s wife and co-founder of the Salvation Army. Eva Booth was the seventh child of William and Catherine and the fourth general of the Army, who spread the word of God in North America.
Joseph Garabed is known as a spiritual father of many lost souls and the one who brought a lot of new things to Salvationists in America. Eliza Shirley was in charge of the broad establishment of the Salvation Army in the United States. George Scott Railton represented the mission of the organization in New York. Being a polyglot, he could present the word of God in different languages and countries, like France, Germany, China, Japan, and others. Samuel Logan Brengle was the minister to officers and soldiers in the Salvation Army. The organization was started to spread the love and word of God and meet human needs without discrimination.
The Service Model
The Salvation Army organization provides different programs and services for the people. The organization is against racism and discrimination by age, race, sex, color, or religion and its impact on human life. Moreover, the organization provides employment opportunities without discrimination of any kind. Rent, mortgage, and utility assistance, homeless shelters, rehabilitation, LGBTQ+ Support, services for the aging, help with domestic abuse, and summer camps are among the nonprofit organization’s services. In conclusion, the service model used for service delivery can be defined as a human service model.
The Population of Clients
The Salvation Army operates 6,914 centers in communities across the United States. These centers provide food distribution, disaster relief, rehabilitation services, anti-human trafficking efforts, and youth programs (Salvation Army, 2023). These 6,914 centers give help to approximately 23 million Americans annually, “meet human needs, and help people in crisis (i.e., homelessness, unemployment, loneliness) without discrimination.” (Zhao et al. 2020). Moreover, besides the United States, the Army serves 133 developing and developed countries worldwide.
The Special Needs of the Clients
In 2022, inflation soared, affecting the ability of nearly 92 million individuals and families to afford necessities like rent, mortgage, utilities, gas, and food (Salvation Army, 2023). As a result, with the help of donors, partners, and volunteers, the organization could help clients to achieve their unique needs. The Salvation Army works to provide resources that will help families stay in their homes (Salvation Army, 2023). The help is reflected in the following statistical data: 232,093 people got mortgage and rent assistance, 325,565 got utility assistance, and 233,114 evictions were prevented.
The Comparison Between Clients Through the Years
The world is changing, and it changes very fast, as do the people living in it. The nonprofit organization, the Salvation Army, was founded 158 years ago. During such a period, many things got different, as did the people themselves. From the very beginning, the founders, William and Catherine Booth, fought for the souls of lost men and women who were thieves, prostitutes, gamblers, and drunkards and who eventually converted to Christianity. Today, the variety of services is vast, and organizations can help different groups of people in various spheres. For example, the organization provides over 56 million meals annually to people who fight against food insecurity.
Reference
The Salvation Army. (2023). Annual report. Web.
Zhao, Q., Dickson, Ch., Thornton, J., Solís, P., Wentz, E. A. (2020). Articulating strategies to address heat resilience using spatial optimization and temporal analysis of utility assistance data of the Salvation Army Metro Phoenix. Applied Geography, 122, 1-10. Web.