As part of my summer assignment as a Salvation Army cadet, I spent one day a week at The Salvation Army's Community Centre in Saskatoon,” says Cadet Kristen Gray, now in her second year at the College for Officer Training in Winnipeg. “The centre includes a men's shelter, transitional housing, a variety of family services, a half-way house, serves up to 300 meals each day to the community and provides after-hours emergency assistance for women and families in crisis.”

Cadet Gray's involvement included helping serve an evening meal for 70-100 people on Friday and Sunday nights. “One of the goals of the program is to serve the residents and community people without sacrificing their dignity and pride,” she says. “I also joined the outreach co-ordinator on her breakfast run.”

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning, a breakfast van visits four locations. “People depend on the van,” says Cadet Gray. “Without this ministry, many of them, including some children, would go hungry.”
The Army's ministry does much more than address physical hunger. This particular program, and others like it, meet people at many points of need, whether they are physical, emotional, social or spiritual. “I believe that this ministry unit and many others are doing what God has called the Army to do,” she says. “In obeying that call, we are putting into action the words of the contemporary worship song, 'We must go, live to feed the hungry, stand beside the broken. We must go!' ”