This month, Shining the Light takes to the streets.
“Be a sermon in your shoes,” is what Mary Jane Dinsmore Kent, longtime master of Harveys Aleppo Grange puts at the bottom of her emails – a downhome reminder, brothers and sisters, to help your neighbors whenever you can.
This holiday season, as the needs have grown with COVID-19 lockdowns, illness, job losses and kids home from school, those shoes became boots. A 30-plus congregation of caring churchgoers, VFW members, Scouts, high school seniors, retirees and everyday people took up the bell and kettle for Salvation Army and have been ringing across the county from Waynesburg to Rices Landing.
It’s nearly impossible to catch new Salvation Army coordinator Bonnie Davis in her office at 131 W. 1st Street Waynesburg these days. She’ll be on the road from 9 a.m. ‘til dark until December 23 swapping out kettles between the three-hour shifts that volunteers take at Carmichaels Shop & Save and Rices Landing and Waynesburg Giant Eagles. Waynesburg Walmart has a kettle and this year so does Big Lots.
Davis, who came onboard in July to replace Sister Audrey Quinn, hit the road running and is delighted with the community support she’s receiving through community volunteers and United Way’s Greene County Nonprofit Partnership.
“This county is amazing – they pull together. There’s no way I could run the center without my volunteers. And Sister Audrey is always there when I call,” she tells me on her cell phone when I finally catch up with her. “We’re doing really well so far but we can always use more volunteers.” Some older volunteers in the eastern end of the county are still COVID-19 wary, but Jefferson and Carmichaels high school seniors stepped up to ring as has the VFW. There are enough volunteers to ring two days a week in Carmichaels and Dry Tavern this year, Davis tells me. Waynesburg and Jefferson Baptists are taking shifts, as are members of Waynesburg’s Presbyterians, Methodists and the Nazarene Church and WWJD in West Waynesburg. The kettles around Waynesburg are out three to four days a week near the weekend.
“I tell everyone that every penny stays in Greene County,” Davis says.
This year, Salvation Army Project Bundle Up brought in coats for kids and overflows were shared through the partnership.
Back at the warehouse, volunteers are keeping the doors open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. with offerings of clothing, household goods and food staples for those in need. Need help with rent, utilities or personal loss? Give a call and someone will get back to you.
If you want to be a sermon in your boots, the number is the same: 724-852-1479.
