Why My Father Gave To the Salvation Army

Salvation Army distributing Christmas baskets of food, Chicago 1903

As an adult, my Dad Fred Opie Jr. made regular donations to the Salvation Army as homage to the work they had done in the Tarrytowns during the Depression when he was growing up, especially during Thanksgiving and Christmas. He would periodically say, “If it wasn’t for the Salvation Army, my family would have never survived the Depression.” My Aunt Dot [Dorothy] told me that during the Depression and the war, “I can remember them knocking on the door, and they would bring us food for Thanksgiving and Christmas . . . when we lived” in a cold water flat. During my Dad’s youth in the 1930s and 1940s, the Salvation Army provided food relief to needy families in his working class neighborhood with no regard to ethnicity. As I did during Thanksgiving, I encourage everyone to give your money and or your time to their ministry this Christmas season to help feed families in need.