to a school district that's bet-
ter. They deal with it. They
try to do the best they can.
want the Army to be in your
community?
people in need from one location.
The eight outlying corps had their
own policies for emergency assis-
tance. The divisional commander
wanted to make services consis-
tent for all corps, so the Army de-
veloped a Metro Plan. It integrated
all of the services and brought ser-
vices to the two corps that didn't
offer any. We created a manual
and guidelines for this Tier I ser-
vice. We had plans for moving to
Tier II by improving follow-up for
those we assisted, but we never
could reach that level until Pathway
came along with the funding to put
the right people in the right place.
son associated with The Salva-
tion Army, the officers, the church
staff, the thrift store workers. It
reflects what The Salvation Army
means to people--to do good and
to build relationships, to build
something authentic and genu-
ine and to make a difference.
cally, the ratio is 15 to 1. The num-
ber has been as high as 20. They are
gency assistance focuses on supply-
ing support for 30 days. Pathway
brings so much more involvement
into a family's life. It takes more
assessments, more visits, more
counseling sessions, so case man-
agers spend more time with as-
signed clients rather than serv-
ing as many clients as possible.
to Pathway's more intensive plan?
effective ways. The problem is, in a
lot of our smaller corps, and some
of our bigger corps, emergency as-
sistance providers were also thrift
store clerks, janitors, office man-
agers, etc. Pathway is case�man-
agement driven. You have to have
the right person in place. Other-
wise you're going to have bound-
ary issues and ethical issues that
could lead to problems for the Army.
We do home service, home visita-
tion, which requires a good deal of
professionalism and safety train-
ing. If we have the philosophy,
that anyone can be a case man-
ager or caseworker, I am afraid we
will see negative consequences.
Sometimes clients don't want to talk
about them because they are embar-
rassed, or are too close to the prob-
lem to see it for what it is. When you
first get to know a family, there is
usually a presenting crisis. You don't
find out all there is to know about
a family in the first couple of visits.
Often the story that clients present
isn't the actual cause of the perpet-
uating crisis. There can be undiag-
parent or boyfriend or a host of un-
derlying reasons for difficulties.
I like the Pathway of Hope approach
because it recognizes that change is
not linear. We recognize that and are
prepared for the complications and
obstacles that arise along the way.
requirements and involvement,
what leads families to sign up?
They need that support. They need
someone to help them see things a
little differently, figure out how to
get where they want to go and direct
them to resources that they weren't
aware of, and it helps to have
someone hold them accountable.
walk you through some of these
same paths. If you don't have access
to a therapist, to professional sources
that can help interrupt cycles of self�
destructiveness or poor habits, Path-
way offers that kind of perspective.
problems of poverty?
-- the mom who comes to the corps
all the time and has three children,
goes to school for the surgical tech
program at night and drives 25
miles to work at the yogurt shop to
make $10 an hour. We are ready
to serve one family at a time and
build up the community that way.
online at www.thewarcry.org