As a sister if a captain of the Salvation Army, I can tell you exactly where their money goes. As a captain, my sister is given a home, rent free, fully furnished. If she dislikes the curtains, carpet, kitchen table, whatever, she has it replaced by them free of charge. That goes for all captains. That is where your money is going. I gave up donating to them a long time ago, and instead donate to a charity that provides books and clothes to school children.

As in every institution there will be people working for the Salvation Army who really shouldn't be allowed to even enter the premisses. And they should be fired or re-educated. Denying that this problem exists doesn't serve the Salvation Army. I'm sure that the Salvation Army has people who really want to help people in need and I'm sure it's the majority of their employees. So why not investigate the accusations and take appropriate action? Throwing the woman out makes the Salvation Army look suspicious and untrustworthy.

Sadly I had a very bad experience myself. I had to flee an abusive relationship and I had no where else to turn. I did have a job but no money to rent a place. No one else who stayed there had a job. Some of the men in the shelter would refer to the females in very obscene terms. After work, I would come in and volunteer to help with resumes, interview practice, new admissions, etc. I was trying so hard to be helpful. The manager, a Pastor, called me into his office and told me I had to be a bell ringer full time. I reminded him I had a job, but I would gladly work 12 hour shifts on weekends. Next morning, I was told to pack my things and leave. I spent the next few weeks living in my car in the coldest part of the year! Merry Christmas. I wound up renting a room for $125 a week in a little rooming house. On bad days, I can still hear those men screaming obscene words at me. And the irony of the only employed resident being tossed out still amazes me.

CONTINUED - ungrateful along with the threat of eviction. I walked out; there was no way I would allow my kids to eat that ptomaine poisoning waiting to happen bacteria laden slop. I didn’t have much money, but enough to manage a little packaged coffeecake to split with my kids down at the 7-11 on the corner. I felt fortunate I didn’t have to subject them to meals of rotten garbage unlike many of the other mothers. Needless to say I went back to my abuser, at least we had a clean house and fresh food but because of the dirty shared pillows we all ended up with the worst case of conjunctivitis in the century. It took months to heal emotionally and physically and another year to leave to a real safe house. I will NEVER EVER donate, shop, support or have anything to do with the Salvation Army and I take every opportunity to tell people just what a horrible un-charitable organization they run.

Many years ago (1978 or 79) I was the executive secretary to the Director of North San Diego County Salvation Army, Oceanside. Our main function was to place women in safe houses and work with them rebuilding their lives with free classes and job referrals. The office was ground level with storefront windows and one day a lady walked in and handed me a $10 bill, asking me to put it toward helping an abused woman with children. The Director wasn’t in at the time so I held onto the cash until she returned 30 or so minutes later. After she settled into her office I went in, handed her the donation and explained where it had come from and to what was requested it be applied to. The director smiled, held out her hand, took the money, and as she stuck it into her purse said “Good, I needed gas money”. Part of my job was to solicit donations from local upscale vendors for charitable fundraisers. Contributors made sizeable grants and endowments which ended up in administrator and board me

THIS is the real one-man Army Salvation... https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2018/09/04/this-school-janitor-has-been-quietly-been-giving-homeless-students-clothes-soap-and-more-from-her-care-closet/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.3e6c2ed05cba

My family spent Christmas 1981 in a women’s shelter. We left my father with only the clothes on our backs. The Salvation Army provided me and my siblings with 3 sets of clothes a piece and toys for Christmas Morning. When my mom moved us to a rent house they gave us beds and a couch and a kitchen table. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Why isnt the national organization President aware of this? Sure this might be just this location, but even one location treating people like this is horrid. Do something SA or forever lose my cash donation. And if I hear that bell, one time...

I met an older gal at a cafe in San Francisco. She lived in SA housing and was grateful. The SA showed up after a pretty serious fire at my apartment building in the Chicago suburbs. They fed us and put us up at local motels for 3 days ... when those of us who had livable spaces were allowed to return. I will continue to support them with gratitude and thanks.

I dislike stories like this... As with just about everything in the world, there are always some that completely suck. I find it hard to believe, an organization as large as the SA, that there are zero caring people. It just seems like, instead of trying to fix a location, they want they entire organization to suffer, and I"m sure there are plenty of good people and places within the SA...

If you are in the Chicagoland or Northwest Indiana area, please donate to Haven House. I've worked with them (donating to and fundraising for) for many years. It's for abused women and their kids. They keep them safe and actually help them.

I ain't surprised all of these, majority of organization are scam they used "God" names to get all the greed.

Uncommon Boston

Uncommon Boston

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Stop judging entire organizations based on a few experiences! Loud negative voices damage businesses and organizations. Do you know enough about the entire industry and individual organizations to make universal statements? Not all religious charities are bad, at the Methodist church in Provincetown, MA, things go out as fast as they come in. The fishing industry has collapsed, many commercial fishermen are suffering. The Women's Center on Newbury St in Boston is impressive. Clean, well supplied with cheerful staff and recipients. Started by nuns. Yes, there are some dreadful places as well. Aunt Messy, I am sorry you had several negative experiences at a religious charity. It has happened to many of us, I understand your feelings. But is it fair to criticize all religious groups? Find a place you can feel good about. Often it is one location. Not sure, talk to those you want to help. The homeless know what works. Distributing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches is a good start.

There is always that one customer who can never be satisfied, is demanding, and is rude. This post is a reminder to not be that customer. A lock on the refrigerator door, in an institution helping those at the bottom of society? Seems quite reasonable to me. Reminds me of the psychiatrist who finally determined that her patients wasn't actually "ill" but rather that he simply had a "horrible personality" and that there was nothing medically wrong with her. All the "complaints/testimony" is from one person who may be as problematic as she seems. I recall the saying "How is it that everyone else is 'not ok' but somehow you, of all the people around you, are the only one who is OK."

I work for a charity and there is black, white and grey everywhere. 30% of our profits go to just dumping the rubbish people "donate", when they couldn't be bothered throwing it away or do not want to incur the relative fees at landfill. My only issue with the Salvos is that they have personal beliefs that are not commonly known to the public that donate to them. For instance, in my country, they are strict about witchcraft and alcohol, so your Harry Potter books/movies, Twilight merch, Jack Daniels shirts and anything else they do not agree with goes in the BIN, not to another charity. They do not advertise this on the front doors of their retail outlets, so these donations go to waste. My charity is happy to sell the entire Harry Potter series for $21, so give it to us, we can use them.

The Salvation Army is a bona fide church (that sponsors the stores/shelters.) When was the last time you walked in ANY church and found that everyone (including the clergy) was perfect?? Nobody is perfect. When a person is down and out, it's easy for them to be overly critical because their life situation is making them sensitive. I don't think it's fair to slam a church affiliated charity; if that's the case, then you might as well slam ALL Christian churches! BTW...MOST Protestant denominations who claim to be Evangelical are ALL against Homosexuality...so give the SA a break! Jeez...

I recommend the Catholic Charities. They do so much good for needy homeless people. They even helped my daughter find a place to live in one afternoon because she was being stalked by her ex-boyfriend. They provided a home, food, surgery and a case worker for my son when he was destitute. From there he went to a half way house and they helped him find a good job so he could start over again. Every person has their own reality. I don't think all Salvation Army's are like the one described in this story.

I'm very upset about this. I volunteered for the Salvation Army and at our unit nothing like that happened while I was there. But not all locations are managed the same way by the same people. As these posts demonstrate, many locations have severe problems which must be fixed immediately. To all who have just complaints: tell everyone. Call in local news media. Find other clients who have been similarly mistreated. There is power in numbers! Meanwhile, I will be writing to the national office to demand immediate action. Jesus will not tolerate this situation and neither should we.

Thank you for input! I won't give money or donation to any organization that would throw people to the street!! I don't care what the woman said!! It's a bit hard to have proper etiquette when you have nothing! No way!!

When an organization is large enough there will bound to be bad apples around that bring more damages than goods, a complaint like this one would be a good sign to start some internal investigation and flush them out or whole organization will fall.

Throwing out goods that have been sitting for a while is pretty much commonplace at any large corporation charity place. I know for a fact that Goodwill does this as my mum, years ago (when I was like 6-8), as a single mother used to go through the (at the time)open dumpsters to search for things to resell on kijiji or to keep. To our disbelief we found gold chains, fossils, perfectly good condition furniture and electronics, among many other things

Yep, this doesn't surprise me at all. The few times I have gone there the staff was rude to downright abusive. I have had the same experiences at the DAV. Needless to say, I donate to local charity shops and to Goodwill, instead.

Known this since I was a kid. I've donated time and money extensively over the years NEVER to SA. Hate 'em.

I approached the SA in my locale and was told to go back to where I came from because we were starving and elderly.. I was told that I shouldn't have come to this place if I didnt have money.. I had moved for my health but they didn't care.. so this not caring is rampant in lots of locations.. I discovered that the SA doesn't do back ground checks on any staff, they take all volunteers and don''t really care who they are as long as they work for free and can do their dirty work for them... When I finally told someone about what happened they just pushed it under the carpet and called me a liar.. so ya.. I been there..

After working for them for 9 month as as a Social Worker, I will NEVER donate to them ever again after all I witnessed. Your money primarily goes to the higher echelon in many ways. NEVER AGAIN!

If the institution cannot purge itself of that “bad apple”, the institution is flawed.

NGOs spend most of the money donated to them on executive salaries and fancy office space and corporate expense accounts.

Well, the woman writing is very articulate and appears to be very level headed and just one more of many down on their luck.......Lifes not gettin any easier in the land of the once free..........I for one will take her advice.....she does not come off as a crackpot at all......