Hats off!

Dear editor:
The Salvation Army Christmas Kettle program was a great success this past holiday season. The money collected was used entirely in this community.
Jesus gave the instructions to all people to “feed the poor” and to “clothe the naked.” To make this easier to understand, I will tell you what this means to me.
The Great Depression started two years before I was born. I was born in Truro, N.S., where people were very poor because there were no jobs available anywhere. Men rode trains to find work elsewhere so their families could be looked after.
It was Christmas time just a few years before the Second World War started. My siblings and I dreaded Christmas because we could not afford to celebrate it. I was standing on the back porch of our home with my sister, Georgia, and said, “It’s Christmas time but it is not for us,” so we continued to play in the snow.
Christmas morning arrived and our Aunt Charlotte, who later became a Salvation Army officer-in-training, told us to have breakfast before we went into the other room. After we finished the watered-down porridge, the door to the other room was opened and there stood a decorated tree.
Underneath the tree were presents! My sister and I were given baby dolls with knitted suits which were prepared by our mother. My brothers, John, Neil, and Mike, all received in turn a hitch, a toboggan, and a sled.
In the evening when it was supper time, our Aunt Charlotte took Georgia and I to the tree. Underneath I saw two of the most beautiful dolls. They were like real babies, with real hair and eyes that opened and shut.
I was gasping and in a broken voice, I said, “There really is a Santa Claus!”
That is what the Salvation Army did for my family. We were children who had absolutely nothing, with cardboard in our shoes because we couldn’t afford new ones.
The years have passed by now and all of us children have grown up. I became a teacher, two became doctors, and my sister became a nurse. When I was able to, I returned to my birth church to give back to the Salvation Army all they had done for us.
The Salvation Army is a real church with ministers called officers, ordained in the same way others are. Their commitment to God is to “feed the poor” and “clothe the naked” with the help of those in the community.
I am very proud to be a Salvationist, as my mother was. I have a continuous link to William Booth, who started the Salvation Army in Middlesboro, Yorkshire, England along with my own family.
I say, in closing, “Thanks be to God” for the Salvation Army and my hat’s off to Capts. Angel and Marlene Sandoval for continuing the work started by William Booth. Amen!
Sincerely,
Edith Rawlins
Soldier of Jesus Christ
The Salvation Army
Fort Frances, Ont.