Highlights of January 20, 2022 Meeting

 

As members and guests were arriving for the meeting, they were greeted by Sean Green.  

 

President Dan opened the meeting by introducing himself then reciting the Rotary International 2021-22 theme - Serve to Change Lives.  He then reminded everyone of the Rotary Vision Statement:

 

 

Bob Zarling, who has served on the board with Major Ramsey introduced him as our speaker, and also as a potential new member since he turned in a membership application prior to the meeting.  Bob indicated there are many opportunities to volunteer at the Mesa Salvation Army for members who are interested.  Major Scott's entire family is invested. 

 

A little over a year ago, when the entire staff at the Mesa facility were out because of COVID, Rotary stepped up to help with distribution of toys and food that had been collected to serve families in need.  Prior to the COVID pandemic, Major Scott attended several Mesa West meetings and even had a membership application in process.  As a prior Rotarian, he even presented a Rotary Minute at one of the Mesa West Rotary Club meetings he attended.  

 

While living in Bremerton, Washington, Major Ramsey was a member of the Rotary Club there.  He disclosed that life and work responsibilities at his Salvation Army post there kept him from being as active as a Rotarian as what might be desired.  In fact, before leaving Bremerton at the last Rotary meeting he attended, they announced the names of some members who were being purged from their membership because of their lack of attendance, and his was one of the names announced.

 

Major Ramsey grew up near Santa Cruz, California in the town of Aptos.  His father managed a meat department in a Safeway there prior to purchasing a liquor store.  Scott is in the sports hall of fame at the Aptos High School having excelled in both baseball and football.  After two years of training at The Salvation Army training center in Southern California, he participated in a five-year internship program.  It was through the Salvation Army that he met his wife.  She was a receptionist at the training center.  After 37 years of marriage, she lost her battle with cancer last May after her cancer had metastasized to her brain. 

 

After being commissioned as a Salvation Army officer in 1983, he served in eleven different appointments.  The last one prior to their transfer to Mesa was in Bremerton, Washington.  They had four children who currently range in age from 28-34.  Two daughters live here.  Their third daughter resides in Las Vegas, and their only son lives in Washington. 

 

There was a period of time that Scott left the Salvation Army.  During that time, he served as a corrections officer.  He found that his natural tendency to try to befriend everyone was not a good fit in that vocation.

 

Some of the posts where Scott served presented unique challenges.  He told of one post at the Bell Shelter in East LA where they would have more than 200 people in the shelter.  One year there were more than 350 during extreme cold weather.  

 

Major Ramsey expressed his appreciation for the record-breaking collections of $25,497 this past holiday season.  To prepare for the kettle kickoff, he looked up the ten year total collected by Mesa West Rotary.  At that time, the ten-year total was over $164,000.  He appreciates the good will that is spread by our volunteers working the station.  It is a statistical fact that volunteer-staffed stations bring in more revenue than those that are staffed with paid individuals.  

 

At the Mesa Citadel, they have 35 paid employees on average with around 150 additional volunteers.  In 2021, Mesa raised more than any other community in their division.  Scott's competitive nature makes him take note of such things.

 

Prior to COVID, they were delivering about 30 meals each day in their senior meal program.  When everything shut down, they were delivering to over 100 people in a Mesa mobile home park.  In their after-school program, they serve an average of 35 each day in their low or no-cost program.  They pick up at several schools.  At the height of the pandemic they were serving 100 families a day through their food bank.  That is now down to 40-45 families each day.  They provided $140,000 in rental assistance during the pandemic.  

 

Bell Ringing and Mail are a big source of funding for Salvation Army.  35-40% of their donations are now online, with the kettles brining in around 10%.  The majority of their funding comes in between November and January.  He feels blessed that during the last two years, giving didn't go away.

 

COVID has created a situation which has been treated in the same manner as when they go into disaster mode.  Scott had the opportunity to be on response teams following the San Francisco earthquake in 1989 and in Beaumont, Texas following Hurricane Harvey.  The response teams need to assess and start meeting needs on-the-spot.  He feels blessed that they have had the funds available to assess and meet needs during COVID.

 

He spoke for a bit about the communications crisis that they dealt with during this most recent fund-raising season.  They serve 130 countries.  Their international office is in England.  Someone there had an idea about something they maybe should do related to critical race theory.  It was never actually more than an idea, but because it was written, it somehow found its way into social media and went viral and creating a PR nightmare.  Salvation Army in the United States had nothing to do with it.  In the Corps, they try to avoid politics at all costs.  Their mission is to serve those in need.  The whole thing hurt his heart.  Because bad PR can slow down funding resources, those who are hurt the most are those with the greatest needs.  In reality, donations year-to-year were not affected much.  

 

Salvation Army goals here in Mesa for the near future include expanding their heat relief program for the homeless.  They hope to provide more water, get cots and mats and serve meals inside buildings.  They hope to make showers available.