Along the Way: RAYS OF HOPE IN GV

Salvation Army offers sunshine

“I was lyin’ in the gutter all covered up with beer,

pretzels in my eyebrows and I knew the end was near,

when along come the Salvation Army and saved me from

the hearse. . .put a nickel on the drum, save another

drunken bum. . .put a nickel on the drum and you’ll be

saved. . .” — Words of an old song.

We are blessed in this country with all manner of open-hearted, loving charities, many of them long established. There are lace-curtain charities, cafe society charities, charity as an excuse to hold a golf tournament or fashion show and some that shoo away the tax collector.

It’s comforting to know that down there on the poor side of town, in the middle of life’s shadow, gloom and wrong, we still have the venerable, hallowed and dependable Salvation Army.

Ron and Evelyn Weppler are ministry leaders of the Salvation Army in Green Valley, and you’ve never met a couple more devoted to their calling, more concerned about the icy pain of poverty.

“We’re here to help,” Ron told members of the United Methodist Men one morning last week at the Green Valley Community Church.

“We don’t have any great ability,” Weppler said, “we’re here to serve and there are people in this community who need help.”

Evelyn told of a man who came to them once after a frightening epiphany. “He had put a gun in his mouth,” she said, “but when he pulled the trigger, it didn’t go off. He took that as a sign from God and came to us for help.”

The man was a drug addict, and the Wepplers placed him in a rehab program in Tucson. He’s now a social worker and doing very well.

Green Valley is a community of people who, for the most part, have retired after successful careers in every imaginable business and profession. We’re mature, we’ve survived everything life can throw at us, we’re still hanging in there and — no offense, but — why in the world do we need the Salvation Army?

“There are terrific needs in this community,” Ron said. “It’s unbelievable how many many folks here live from Social Security check to Social Security check. We have people living on $800 a month, from which they must pay rent or a mortgage, utilities, food, gasoline and necessities.”

It’s not all paradise.

“A real problem in Green Valley is people outliving their retirement funds,” Ron said.

“I can tell you for a fact, there are a lot of people living here who get up in the morning and have to decide whether they will eat that day or take their medicine. . . .that’s why Evelyn and I are here,” he said.

Evelyn ticked off some statistics.

“Last year,” she said, “we spent $117,000 in Green Valley. We helped 344 families in one way or another — putting food on the table, keeping water and electricity running in the house, paying bills…”

The Wepplers oversee the Salvation Army Chapel here at 660 W. Camino Casa Verde, a couple of blocks west of the Friends In Deed.

As hard as they work, as dedicated as they are, the Wepplers will tell you straight off, they couldn’t begin to do the work of the Salvation Army alone.

“If we didn’t have people like you to help us,” Ron told the Methodist Men, “our work would come to an end.”

And it’s more than volunteers ringing bells at Christmas time.

“You did, of course — a lot of you rang the bells for us at Christmas,” Ron said. “And we have an annual community Christmas dinner for which this church always provides the dessert. The people of Green Valley volunteer in many ways.”

It’s not only retirees. The Wepplers are the biggest fans of the students at Sahuarita High School, and for good reason.

“The National Honor Society at the high school raised the money to purchase 37 bicycles, which we gave away at Christmas to needy children,” Weppler said.

“Imagine that! And they raised money for clothes and toys for kids. You hear stories these days about young people getting into trouble and having a bad

attitude, but let me tell you, there are a lot of really great ones out there, too.”

Poverty, addiction and desperation aren’t the only enemies the Wepplers have had to battle. They’ve even crossed swords with federal bureaucracy.

“We’ve run into a recent roadblock that disturbs me,” Ron said. “A law was passed by which you have to prove you’re a legal resident of this country before you can receive assistance. We have to use people’s birth certificates to prove they are U.S. citizens and eligible to get help.”

He said the words like a man getting ready to spit.

“We’ve actually had to turn people away because they can’t produce documentation,” Weppler related. “It hurts to do that, it hurts Evelyn and I more than I can tell you. But we do have some discretionary funds -- not covered by these federal laws — that we’ve been able to use.”

This is why the Army needs our help, our money and our willingness to volunteer.

Ron held a number of jobs before soldiering in thSalvation Army. “I was a plumber, I worked in weed control and was an architectural hardware consultant,” he said with a laugh.

From plumber to a career in the Salvation Army must have been a wrenching decision for Ron. Well, not really.

“I’ve been associated with the Salvation Army since 1989,” he said. “When my first wife passed away, I was looking for something part-time.

“I started with the Salvation Army in Tucson, washing pots and pans 15 hours a week. Now, Evelyn and I are in charge of the outpost here in Green Valley and I work 60 hours a week!

“When they asked us to come here and establish an outpost, I told them I was ‘way too old. I was 65.

I wanted to retire. They said, ‘That’s exactly why we want you to go to Green Valley. You’ll fit right in.”

That was 11 years ago. Ron is going on 76 and as Evelyn said, “he’s still going strong.”

So is that august and wonderful old Gray Lady, the Salvation Army. It began in England in 1865, when William Booth, a London Methodist minister, gave up the comfort of his pulpit and took The Message to the streets. It was a hands-on ministry to the poor, the homeless, the hungry and desperate.

Nothing highfalutin about it. The Salvation Army is simply a bushel of sunshine and hope, and the perfect conjuncture of beans and benevolence for the hungry in body and soul.

It is also, in Green Valley and elsewhere, a white candle in a holy place.

Corky Simpson’s column appears Friday in the Green Valley News.

Details

Facts about the Salvation Army:

National Salvation Army Week is being celebrated across the country this week.

The week of Nov. 18-Dec. 4, 1954 was declared by the U.S. Congress and proclaimed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to be the first National Salvation Army Week.

The week’s observance has changed on the calendar but not the work of the organization: to serve those in need without discrimination.

This is what President Eisenhower said of the Salvation Army: “Among Americans, the Salvation Army has long been a symbol of wholehearted dedication to the cause of brotherhood. In time of war, the men and women of this organization have brought to those serving their country far from home, friendliness and warm concern. In the quieter days of peace, their work has been a constant reminder to us all that each of us is neighbor and kin to all Americans, giving freely of themselves, the men and women of The Salvation Army have won the respect of all.”

The Salvation Army began in 1865 when London minister William Booth gave up the comfort of his pulpit to take his message into the streets where it would reach the poor, the hungry and destitute.

Observing that the poor were not comfortable — and in some cases not welcomed — in established churches, Booth decided to found a church especially for them. So he set up the East London Christian Mission.

By the 1900s, the Army had spread around the world and had officers and soldiers in 36 countries, including the United States.

Today, the organization operates in 106 nations.

President George W. Bush has said this about the Salvation Army: “I commend the Salvation Army officers, soldiers, and those who support its mission for their continued dedication to helping meet the physical and spiritual needs of people across the Nation. During this week, I encourage Americans to express their appreciation for the Salvation Army’s good works and to follow their example of serving a cause greater than themselves.”