{"id":3545,"date":"2024-10-20T15:21:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-20T15:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/100.28.115.227\/?p=3545"},"modified":"2025-01-30T17:13:33","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T17:13:33","slug":"the-caretaker-of-the-mountains-randys-story-of-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/2024\/10\/20\/the-caretaker-of-the-mountains-randys-story-of-service\/","title":{"rendered":"The Caretaker of the Mountains: Randy\u2019s Story of Service"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Marshall, NC (October 20, 2024)<\/strong>\u00a0– Ministry doesn\u2019t always happen behind a pulpit. For Randy, a resident of Marshall, NC, it took on a different form entirely. In 1972, he began his journey as a cadet in The Salvation Army, with plans to dedicate his life to ministry and service. But God had other plans. Randy left the academy and returned home, where his dream of serving his community remained strong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of the traditional path, Randy bought a dive bar, T-Birds, and transformed it into a family-friendly gathering spot for his neighbors. Over the years, Randy became a cornerstone of the community, a friend to people from all over the country who passed through the mountains of North Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Hurricane Helene hit his small town, Randy knew exactly what to do. Donations poured into T-Birds from all across the country: generators, tents, camping stoves, diapers, pet food, chainsaws, and more. With everything his community needed to rebuild, Randy distributed these supplies to anyone who needed help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the aftermath of the storm, Salvation Army volunteers arrived in the area looking for a place to serve hot meals. Locals pointed them in one direction: \u201cYou oughta talk to Randy.\u201d When the Salvation Army canteen pulled up to T-Birds, Randy welcomed them with open arms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love the Army,\u201d Randy shared. \u201cI rang bells for them at Christmas. They sent me to camp. I\u2019ll never forget that experience.\u201d Even after all these years, Randy fondly recalls his time as a kid at the local corps, referring to the Officers and Soldiers as family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Randy never has a shortage of friends\u2014or “family,” as he calls the people around him. In his community, he’s affectionately known as the “caretaker of the mountains,” always ready to serve, always welcoming with a kind heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matthew 25:40<\/strong> \u2013 “The King will reply, \u2018Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.\u2019”<\/em><\/p>\n

Stephanie Chastain<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marshall, NC (October 20, 2024)\u00a0– Ministry doesn\u2019t always happen behind a pulpit. For Randy, a resident of Marshall, NC, it took on a different form entirely. In 1972, he began […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":3546,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[110,94,32,129],"class_list":["post-3545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-response","tag-helene","tag-hurricane","tag-north-carolina","tag-spotlight"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/c28f65b8ba67366f1e3024956e33ae21.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3545"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3545"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3545\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3547,"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3545\/revisions\/3547"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salarmyeds.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}