• Stephanie Romett

The Salvation Army In Third Day of Response In Gloucester, VA

Gloucester, VA – In the third full day of storm response, Salvation Army teams of caseworkers and spiritual counselors are working in Gloucester, Virginia.  Since Sunday The Salvation Army has been serving meals and drinks and has served lunch from 11-2 and dinner from 4-6. It was totaled that 132 lunches were served on Sunday and 150 were on Monday.

The Salvation Army partnered with Providence Baptist Church on Tuesday to put together bagged lunches to hand out to the workers and residents in the affected communities. All of the major roads surrounding the damaged neighborhoods are shut down to thru traffic with the exception of volunteers from The Salvation Army and Providence Baptist Church who are working together to make sure that everyone is getting the basic necessities in that specific area.  Providence Baptist Church is the closest location to the most damaged residential area, from which The Salvation Army is continuing to serving lunch and dinner from.

As of today 100 HBA (comfort) kits were made and personally handed out to residents. Each of the kits includes: a bar of soap, comb, toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo and baby wipes. Also given to the residents with the kits are grocery bags that consist of “pop-top” cans of food.

With the rise of displaced families in the damaged areas getting greater every day The Salvation Army is deeply concerned with finding immediate and permanent shelters for those people. The Salvation Army has been able to make additional room in their shelter  to accommodate displaced families and individuals.
 
Children from Page Middle School will be re-starting school tomorrow at Peasley Middle. The Salvation Army, starting Wednesday April 20th, will be supplying at least 580 book bags full of supplies to those children.

The local radio station, 99.1 FM, is running donation ads throughout the day. They are aware of where The Salvation Army is set up and what the Army is in need of. In the past 24 hours there has been a great response to the radio ad and donations have been pouring in. The Salvation Army is still asking for the following donations: clothing, blankets, bathroom goods, pop cap canned food and bottled water. Any other donations are of course gracefully welcomed.
    
Donations can be made at the local Salvation Army in Gloucester between the hours of 9:30 AM-4:30 PM.  Though the office was initially planned to be closed on Good Friday the decision was made to stay open and to extend business hours on Saturday April 23 as well. Donations are to be taken through the front door at the Gloucester Salvation Army. Donations are being collected at the Virginia Peninsula Command during the hours of 9 AM-4:30 PM.  All media and volunteer inquiries should be directed to Stephanie Romett at (540) 840-5728.  To make a monetary donation, please all 800-SAL-ARMY.