The Home Front is a new series where we highlight the mission and ministry taking place around our territory. We will visit each Canadian province and territory, as well as Bermuda, and celebrate the innovation and impact the Army is having in corps, social services and youth ministry.

CRAFT AND CHAT IN RED DEER, ALTA.

Seed, moss, berry. Rib, garter, herringbone. Do you know what these are? If you guessed knitting stitches, you’re right! You’d learn this and more at the Craft and Chat group at The Salvation Army’s Red Deer Church and Community and Family Services, Alta., which started as a way to bring people together after the pandemic.

“People had been so isolated,” says Major Dena Hepditch, who serves with her husband, Major Kent Hepditch, as the corps officers in Red Deer. “Especially seniors, because not all of them had the technology of the younger generation to stay connected. So, we decided to just open our doors and welcome the community to a drop-in café.”

Every Wednesday, they brewed some coffee, put out a plate of sweets, and set up tables with a variety of activities: card and board games, puzzles, adult colouring books, and a basket with knitting needles and yarn. Word soon spread and people from the community began to attend, many bringing their knitting or crocheting with them.

“That seemed to be what took off,” says Major Hepditch. A few months after starting the community café, they added Craft and Chat, opening earlier in the day twice a month to give people time to work on their creative projects, such as knitting, sewing, quilting and scrapbooking. Participants often learn from each other and share patterns.

They have also contributed to programs at the corps. At Christmas, they made stockings and filled them for Christmas hampers. In the spring, they raised funds for Partners in Mission (PIM) by asking family and friends to sponsor them to make crocheted granny squares, which were then sewn into blankets and donated to an emergency shelter. And they sold crafts at a vendor market to go toward the corps’ school feeding program.

Although most of the participants don’t attend the corps, they are building connections as they form relationships. Many of them came on the last Sunday of the PIM campaign, when Majors Hepditch announced the total amount raised and prayed a blessing on those who would receive the blankets.

“This place is becoming more like home to them,” Major Hepditch says. “So many of them have said that they don’t know what they would have done if they hadn’t discovered this group, because this is their main social time.”

THE BUNKER IN ST. ALBERT, ALTA.

A bunker is a place of safety. So, when Captains Bhreagh and Daniel Rowe, community ministries officer and corps officer, respectively, at St. Albert Church and Community Centre, Alta., wanted to reach out to youth in the community, “The Bunker” seemed like the perfect name for the new program. They brought on Andrew and Natasha Waine as youth outreach worker and community outreach worker, respectively, who have a passion for working with children and youth.

“We want the youth who attend to know it’s a safe space where they can be themselves,” says Andrew. “I love connecting and building relationships with them and being a positive role model. I had quite a few mentors, people who poured into my life, and now I want to do that for others, to be part of filling their bucket.”

They started by opening up the gym at the corps on Tuesday afternoons for basketball, and then created another drop-in time on Thursdays with sports, video games, a big-screen movie, a quiet study space and a concession stand. Once a month, they have separate groups for girls and guys with activities and snacks. They also run a basketball camp over spring break and a leadership academy in the summer, with field trips and service opportunities.

Since getting underway in 2021, they’ve had more than 150 youth, from Grades 7 to 12, attend one of the programs, with an average of 15 to 20 per event—all kids from the community, because the congregation is mostly made up of older people. So, Andrew and Natasha take an implicit approach to sharing faith to maintain an open and welcoming atmosphere.

“They know they’re coming to a church, and we play Christian music,” says Andrew. “Our drop-in is about building relationships so they know they can talk to us.”

But as part of The Bunker, they also do outreach programs. This past spring, they partnered with another church to run the Alpha course at a school, with more than 60 kids—many of whom also come to the drop-in—attending.

Andrew and Natasha both grew up in the church, where they experienced a sense of community at youth group, and they’re excited to be sharing that experience and providing a consistent Christian presence in the lives of young people.

“I’m passionate about mentoring young girls, to help them through life, find their uniqueness and grow,” says Natasha.

PICKLEBALL IN LETHBRIDGE, ALTA.

Over the past few years, a backyard game for children has become one of the fastest growing sports in North America—pickleball! A cross between tennis and table tennis, pickleball is a fun, fast-paced game played with paddles and a hollow plastic ball, on an indoor or outdoor court. It’s so popular that finding courts to play on can be difficult.

When Lieutenant Zachary Marshall heard that the Rotary Club in Lethbridge, Alta., was looking for space to play, he offered the basement of their corps, which has a gym that wasn’t being used regularly. They liked the space, marked out a court and within two weeks people were coming to play.

“But what has been really neat is that they are trying to fill as much court time as possible to raise money for our community and family services,” says Lieutenant Marshall, who serves with his wife, Lieutenant Julia Marshall, as the corps officers and community services officers at Lethbridge Community Church. “They want to help us keep doing the good work we do in the community.”

Now, anywhere from 40 to 80 people play pickleball at The Salvation Army every week. At first it was just members of the Rotary Club, but it quickly grew to include others in the community. And as Lieutenant Marshall shows people how to access the court, he’s able to explain how the money from the court rental—which brings in about $500 a week—supports the Army’s work.

“People say, ‘I had no idea that this is what The Salvation Army is doing,’ ” he says.

This partnership has become a shared vision, with the Rotary Club also offering to teach seniors and youth at the corps how to play and to reach out to other Rotary Clubs with the idea. And there’s still room for growth—with space to double the number of rental groups, and the income.

It’s also opening the door to conversations about faith. “I’ve had some good conversations about what it means to be a Christian with someone from the Rotary Club,” says Lieutenant Marshall. “Over Easter, he saw we were doing a devotional time in the sanctuary, and asked what it was all about. I don’t think we would have had that opportunity if it wasn’t for them using the building.”

Alberta
At A Glance

Lt-Colonel Donald Bladen
Divisional commander

Lt-Colonel Donna Bladen
Divisional officer personnel secretary and divisional spiritual life development secretary

18 Corps

6 Social Service Ministry Units

8 Corps Thrift Stores

10 National Recycling Operations Stores

10 Emergency Disaster Services Units

1 Camp

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