Be a "Ghost Golfer"

Mother Nature will not stop us from playing golf! The 5th Annual Women Helping Women Golf Tournament, rained out on June 4th, is now back in full swing and will be held on August 6,  at MeadowBrook Country Club.  This great event helps the women and children at the Center of Hope. Unfortunately, we’re seeing more families at the Center.  Last year, the Center assisted 747 adult females and 160 female children. 

An option we're offering is Ghost Player. This is an easy way to be involved with the tournament, without actually playing. If you pay the individual player fee, $125, you get all of the amenities of playing in the tournament. That includes lunch and a special gift for participants.

"So if you wanted to play in the tournament, but may be injured, out of town or just not feeling up to "par," this would be a great option to help."

Text 85944 to beat the heat!

Think your utility bills are high? Our costs at the Center of Hope homeless shelter are rising as we keep the facility cool 24/7 allowing everyone a place to go and find relief from the heat.  As temperatures go up to 109 degrees this week, we're asking people to text TULSA to 85944, making a $10 donation to help us cool the center. After you text your donation, you'll get a text asking you to confirm it. Make sure you confirm it or we won't get your donation. 100% of your gift will come to TULSA to allow us to provide a safe place to eat, sleep and cool off for anyone in need!

Donations are collected by mobilecause.org and will be billed on your next cellular phone bill. Individual data and text message charges may apply. 

Meet a North Mabee family

Wednesday I met a remarkable young man. Dewayne Lucas Jr. was at the annual Target Back-to-School Shopping Spree Wednesday, when Target gives 60 kids from the Boys & Girls Clubs gift cards to buy their school supplies.  The Lucas family is a loyal supporter of the North Mabee Boys and Girls Club. For the Shopping Spree, the parent’s financial information is carefully reviewed to determine which kids have the greatest need. Most of the kids from the clubs meet a volunteer chaperone at the store  because their parents aren’t available to help them shop.But Dewayne works the overnight shift at a factory, so he chaperoned his own son, Dewayne III, age 8.

I guess a politician would argue that since Dewayne Jr. works but still qualifies for help he is part of the “working poor,” but I’m not a politician, so I don’t know. This I do know: Dewayne Jr.  is a bargain shopper.  Not only was he able to buy all of his son’s school supplies with his card, he also bought Dewayne III a pair of nice shorts and a shirt on sale.

Football season begins

'Isn’t it too hot to play football?’ I foolishly asked when I heard that football practice started at the North Mabee Boys and Girls Club yesterday. I should know by now that it’s never too hot to play football. I felt it was too hot to even watch the kids, but football mom Janise Rowe took pity on me and graciously invited me to join her under her umbrella on the bleachers. Her son, Jonathan Rowe, is five years old and was playing football for the first time. It would be hard to exaggerate his excitement. His cousin plays high school football and he wants to be just like him. I thought it was sweet that during the frequent water breaks Jonathan would make a beeline to his mom instead of to the water jugs like the other boys.

New Area Commanders glad to be "home"

Tulsa feels like home to us!  Fifteen years ago, we arrived in Tulsa for the first time, having never lived anywhere west of the Mississippi. What we found here were the most wonderful people and one of the country’s best secrets tucked into the Green Country of Oklahoma.  TULSA.  After 3 years we were moved to Fort Smith, for 3 years, then to Dallas Texas for 7 years, and then to Little Rock, for 2 years.  Much to our surprise, we find ourselves landing back in beloved Tulsa! 

Tulsa has been a pivotal place for our family.  Two of our children graduated high school from Metro Christian Academy.  One graduated from ORU, one graduated from Northeastern State University and one was a student at Western Oklahoma State for two years before finishing at U of Texas in Arlington.

Take a swing!

FORE!!! Take a swing, help thousands of Tulsa area youth!

Did you know that you can enjoy a beautiful view of Tulsa, work on your golf game and help 5000+ youth in the Tulsa area?  Grab your clubs and be a part of our 13th Annual Boys & Girls Clubs Golf Tournament. Mark your calendar to hit the links on Mon., July 23 at Tulsa Country Club.  100% of the net proceeds will be distributed to our six Boys and Girls Clubs located in the Tulsa area. Our goal this year is to raise at least $50,000 to support the comprehensive academic and athletic programs.

The Clubs help children like eight-year-old Jay Carroll. Jay's older brother was in jail and his parents were worried about their younger son following in a similar path. Jay's parents turned to the Mabee Red Shield Boys and Girls Club. Club Director Jerome Smith says the 8-year-old acted "street" when he first arrived, but has now turned around."The kids think acting street is cool and that’s hard for us to combat. Jay didn’t want to be recognized as a good kid, because then he wouldn’t be cool. But he’s come a long way,” Smith said.

The Great Commission

It is with sadness and excitement that last week I said goodbye to The Salvation Army Tulsa Area Command. I felt sadness for missing the wonderful people and ministry at The Salvation Army, and excitement for what God has planned for us. My family and I are moving to Russia to live as missionaries for the next season of life. I’ve been asked to write about this commitment for the last devotional blog post; I hope you enjoy this story.

Matthew 28:16-20, known as the great commission, was preached often when I was in college. It seems like I heard it at least once a week. The scene opens with eleven disciples hanging out on the mountain, after Jesus’ death. They are waiting for Him to get there, because He said He’d meet them on that mountain. I imagine, like any employee today, one of them asking “is this where the meeting is scheduled? Are you sure?”

Even after seeing him resurrected, some still doubted. Sometimes, I’m that doubter. Do you know that Jesus said the same thing to the doubters as he did to those who were firm in faith? The scripture reads: “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’”

These were Jesus’ disciples, and now He is telling them to go make disciples. In the book of Acts and other New Testament books you read a lot about Jesus’ disciples making disciples!
 "It is an incredible feat that because 12 men obeyed, you and I are Christians. Imagine that!"

Chow down on Nostalgic Bean Chowder

Take one step outside and you can feel it: the hot, humid temperatures of Oklahoma. Our air conditioning units and fans are already getting a work-out! Trying to survive yet another hot Oklahoma summer is difficult for thousands of people in Tulsa.  The Salvation Army Center of Hope and several utility companies are trying to help those struggling to pay their bills during Home Energy Aid Week on July 15th-21st.  And you can help too by doing something simple: eat lunch with us!

The Center of Hope is hosting a Home Energy Aid Bean Chowder Fundraiser on Monday, July 16th from 11am-1pm at 102 North Denver in downtown Tulsa. Tickets are $5.00 and include bean chowder, cornbread, green salad and iced tea. Cinnamon rolls will be available for an additional donation.  One dozen tickets can be purchased for only $50.    The bean chowder may taste familiar to alumni of Tulsa Public Schools. The chowder is made from a nostalgic TPS recipe.  If you share pictures of your own school days, or any childhood memorabilia at the fundraiser, you will be entered in a drawing for a chance to win $100 of your August electric bill.

All proceeds from this event will go towards the Center of Hope program which helps those who are facing financial problems pay their utility bills. In 2011, the program helped 3,167 people by distributing $288,450.  So far this year, the Army has spread more than $154,157 to 1449 people who need help.

Local utility companies supporting the Army’s year-round fundraising efforts include Public Service Company of Oklahoma/AEP’s Light a Life program, Oklahoma Natural Gas Company’s Share the Warmth program and Oklahoma Gas and Electric Company’s Lend a Hand program.

  So make your co-workers, friends and family happy by buying their lunch! Contact Heather Houston at (918) 582-7201 ext. 208 if you’d like to buy a ticket (or a group of tickets) now. “Take-out” boxes are available, just call ahead to order.

-Carrie

Challengers swing!

Would you look at that smile? The girl on the left, a Challengers member, is sitting in her wheelchair and swinging at the Broken Arrow Boys and Girls Club, Her swing and four other ADA-certified swings were installed by Jacob Pinley, a volunteer at the club. Jacob is a member of club-chartered Boy Scout Troop 995 and earned his Eagle by researching, raising money and leading the troop in installing the new swing set.  Jacob is pictured at right. The new swings are in back of the BA Boys and Girls Club where anyone can use them. Congratulations Jacob and Challengers - swing on!

-Sallie

Mabee Red Shield loves teens

Josh Walker has his hands full. He’s the new athletic director at Mabee Red Shield Boys and Girls Club and is also managing a new teen program this summer. Club director Jerome Smith said it’s the first formal program for teens that Red Shield has had in a long time. Josh leads eleven 13 and 14-year olds in programs called Goals for Graduation, Career Launch and Healthy Habits. I got to spend time with Josh and the teens recently at LaFortune Park where they walk or run the three-mile perimeter once a week as part of the Healthy Habits program. 

Josh said the kids didn’t want to tell their parents about Healthy Habits because their parents would be so happy. “It’s the same story with all the parents. They say all the kids want to do now is be on their phones. It’s hard to get them to do anything else,” Josh said. But he knows how to keep them motivated, although with a nudge, not a push. And that’s good, because Josh used to be a defensive lineman for the University of Tulsa. He learned to play football at Mabee Red Shield as a "Bulldog."


I asked the kids to invent a creative pose for their photograph, and they came up with the pose above. (Click to enlarge.)  From the top of the slide are: K’onte Thompson; second row; Katara Kniep, Monique Ware, Willis Humphrey, Rachel Jefferson, Kerey Carson; third row: Octavia Terrell, Kharon Driver; bottom row: India Noriah, J’day McIntosh. Photo at right is of Josh and Willis.

N.Mabee kids tour Langston

All I have ever gotten out of Ramone Malone is a big grin and “Yes ma’am,” and “No ma’am.” That’s certainly not all bad. This is a young man with great manners who is a little on the shy side.  So when one of Ramone’s mentors e-mailed me a quote from him recently I was amazed. 

“College ain’t no joke. You have to do your own laundry, figure out where to get food, study, try to have a social life, but if you do have a social life you’re probably doing something wrong,” Ramone said.

Ramone spoke prior to a college tour for the kids in the Felix Jones II, "Running Back to Make a Difference" Foundation ACT Prep program taught at North Mabee Boys and Girls Club. Carol Ainsworth, below right, an ACT tutor and program aide, invited kids from the program to meet at North Mabee and hear what two college sophomores had to say about college life. After the discussion, the kids toured Langston University. Later on this summer, they’ll tour Tulsa Community College and University of Tulsa. Ramone is a sophomore at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah. An athlete himself, he is majoring in sports management. He also told the kids that they will miss their family and that the first year in college can be lonely.

Cooling Center is Open

As Oklahoma's summer temperatures continue to climb I wanted to remind readers about something important. Did you know that The Salvation Army Center of Hope is one of the handful of cooling centers for the City of Tulsa? Our facility at 102 N. Denver is open 24/7 for anyone in need of a cool place to stay.  All the meteorologist are expecting temperatures increase over the weekend and into next week and we will be there Doing the Most Good! 

Don't forget to check on anyone you know who may not have air conditioning and remember that children, pets and the elderly can be at high risk when the temperatures go up!

~Lindsay



P.S. Did you know you can get utility assistance at the Center of Hope also thanks to the Light a Life and Share the Warmth and Lend a Hand programs offered by PSO, ONG and OG&E?

Boys & Girls Clubs rock Philbrook

Hello, I’m Niva Grayson, a Summer Day Camp staff counselor at Maybe Red Shield Boys and Girls Club. In 2011, I was the Mabee Red Shield candidate for the Youth of the Year. I am now a sophomore at Langston University -- but enough about me! I want to give you a chance to hear about our amazing experience at the Philbrook Museum of Art Tuesday.
The Boys and Girls Clubs have been attending “Rock Philbrook” for three summers. Ms. LaDonna, Mabee Red Shield’s “Young Rembrandts” art teacher, made it so exciting for me and the children from the Boys and Girls Clubs to see Philbrook for the first time in 2009. I can remember our first visit well. We were all excited and nervous because we all were being introduced to something new. Ms. LaDonna did an amazing job giving us the chance to be creative and understanding that art plays an important part in our history.

Goodbye to good leaders

Friday is a turning point for The Salvation Army Tulsa Area Command. We knew Majors Roy and Kathy Williams were far too talented to stay in the same position for long, and sadly they are leaving Friday for a promotion in Jackson, Mississippi. Major Roy will report to the Divisional Commander as General Secretary and Major Kathy will be in charge of Women's Ministries for the ALM division, which includes Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana. The Salvation Army moves its officers around every four to seven years. I was really hoping for more time with the Williams. I want to tell you what their leadership has meant to me and, I suspect, my coworkers.

Major Roy ushered in so many positive changes, it’s hard to know where to start. We are in our brand new beautiful offices and will save tens of thousands of dollars every year because we don’t have to rent a Christmas warehouse. Major Roy took the initiative to get that done. When I started here three years ago, every time I worked on the website that the National Salvation Army required us to use my computer would crash. I thought it was just my lack of programming skills – but then Major Roy hired Lindsay as e-marketing director. She decided that the website was so dicey that we’d use a blog until a new website could be built from scratch. It’s under construction now, but the blog has been so popular, we'll continue to use it for stories.

When Major hired Lindsay, there wasn’t a single e-marketing director at another Area Command in the Southern Territory. Now, in addition to our blog, we are fully into all social media and mobile media too. These are all concrete milestones that occurred under Major Roy’s leadership, but an invisible aspect of his leadership is equally important to me. Whenever I’ve made mistakes, Major Roy has corrected me without ever making me feel stupid or guilty or unmotivated, an area where I've found many leaders lacking. I'm sure I’m not the only staff person who has experienced it. I don’t know how he does it, but he makes me want to do better, not retreat and take fewer risks. I think that's the point where leadership becomes an art rather than a skill.

Major Kathy is equally talented. I watched her turn our Christmas Assistance Program from chaos to order in a year. During Christmas 2009, recipients of Christmas assistance had to wait in line for up to four hours, sometimes in bad weather, to register for food and gifts. Now recipients make appointments for registration as early as August and are in and out of the Christmas Center in an hour or less. Distribution of gifts from the Angel Tree Program ran like a well-oiled machine last year. 

Custodian reaches goals one day at a time

I met Steve for the first time when was I was showing a PR intern around the Center of Hope. Steve was living in the Project Able dorm at the time, and volunteered to give us a complete tour. After that, it seemed like no matter what time I was at the Center of Hope, Steve was there with his mop. He impressed me with his quiet demeanor and gentlemanly manners. So when a teacher at the high school in Holland Hall asked if one of our homeless guests at the Center of Hope could meet with the kids in his humanities class, I recruited Steve.

I have to admit I was a little nervous about the presentation, which in my mind I had subtitled  “Two Worlds Collide.” I got us there really early. When we pulled up to Holland Hall we had almost an hour to wait before class. To pass the time, we talked. Steve told me his story. 

Here it is in a nutshell: Born in Mississippi in 1961, got a GED, joined the Air Force, became an alcoholic. Took an honorable discharge to care for a younger brother.  Worked, had his own place, drank a lot, became homeless. Same pattern for two and a half decades. In 2008, when he went to the ER with a headache, it turned out that he had a massive brain infection. It took two surgeries to remove the infection and he was put into a medically-induced coma for two weeks. They didn’t expect him to live. When he left the hospital he didn’t have a place to stay and spent the nights at the Center of Hope. After three years in AA and two years in Project Able and working as a custodian, he moved into his own apartment in August of 2011. He still attends AA meetings five days a week.

Where would he be without The Salvation Army? “I would have given up,” Steve said. He said he struggles with his drinking every day. “It was hard to seek help because I thought it was a sign of weakness. But you have to get over that to survive. You can’t do everything yourself.”

After telling his story to the Holland Hall humanities students, one young man came up to Steve, shook his hand, congratulated him for his success and wished him the best in the days ahead. He was choking back tears.The two worlds didn't collide, but came together, mainly because of Steve.
-Sallie

Circus comes to club kids

Step right up! See the Greatest Show on Earth! Two hundred kids from our six Boys & Girls Clubs and lots of staff members got a little taste of the circus Wednesday when Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Ringmaster Johnathan Iverson presented 200 tickets for the Saturday morning circus performance at Tulsa’s BOK Center.

Kids from all six Boys & Girls Clubs packed the gym of the North Mabee Boys & Girls Club and raptly listened to Johnathan’s inspirational story. He is the first African American Ringmaster in Barnum & Baileys long history. Johnathan stands six feet, five 

inches tall and his Ringmaster’s stovepipe hat gives him about a foot more. “How’d you get so tall?” one boy asked. “I ate my vegetables and did what my mom told me,” Johnathan said. Good answer! I got the impression he is asked that a lot.  

Johnathan brought along his friend Billy, the Ambassador of Laughter from Clown Alley, who led the kids in stretching and strengthening exercises. He also taught them to balance a peacock feather on their chins and juggle scarves. Billy said they will put on three shows on Saturday and by late Saturday night he will have walked nine miles. You have to be fit to be in the big ring!

The only kid with a beard in the audience was Captain Jay Spalding, who donned a clown nose and participated in all the exercises. He wasn’t the only adult having fun. I wrangled a couple of tickets out of Johnathan and took my son Robby to the circus Saturday morning. He’s 25, but we’re both kids at heart.

-Sallie

Post #300

This is our 300th blog post! Lindsay started the blog at salarmytulsa.blogspot.com with a post on Jan. 28, 2010 about the bitter cold weather. In the first two months of 2010, 64 people visited the blog. In the last two months, 1,101 people visited the blog. I think that's a respectable increase, but my favorite statistic is that visitors stay on the blog an average of almost six minutes. That means it's likely that they're actually reading about all the wonderful things The Salvation Army is doing in Tulsa. 

In two and a half years of writing and taking photographs for the blog it’s hard for me to pick a favorite post, so I asked Major and Mrs. Williams about their favorites. Major Williams said he likes the posts that show how Salvation Army employees have changed people’s lives. One of his favorites was about John Oak, the former meth addict who stayed at the Center of Hope in the Project Able program. John now works down the street and owns his own home. Another of Major’s favorites was about the Boys and Girls Clubs Youth of the Year. For two years, Alex Walker from the Broken Arrow Boys and Girls Club has been Tulsa’s Youth of the Year. This weekend he will go to the regional competition in Dallas and we’re all hoping he makes it to national.

Mrs. Williams likes posts that show how we are helping children. Her favorite post was about the Sand Springs "Totally Fit Tuesdays" program. “There’s no PE in the schools anymore. Now so many kids are obese and can’t move that it’s become the norm. The Sand Springs program is helping children grow into healthier adults,” she said. In the post about the Sand Springs program I wrote about a boy who thought chocolate pudding was a vegetable. I always  enjoy finding the humor in stories, but  my favorite part of working on the blog is going out and getting the stories. I could never have imagined the variety of interesting people I would meet.  

Yesterday, I interviewed Billy, a clown from Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey circus. We had a lot in common. We both juggle every day, although my juggling is figurative. We're the same height. We have big smiles. I have to admit though, I’m a little envious of Billy's job title, "The Ambassador of Laughter." But if he knew about all the fascinating people I meet, from a couple of former presidents to the kids at our clubs, he might be a little envious of my job. And I don’t have to do triple back flips!  

-Sallie

Urban clubs start camp

The Salvation Army urban Boys & Girls Clubs all started their Summer Day Camps Monday. The West Mabee Boys & Girls Club named their camp the  “Rowdy Days of Summer.”  Club Director Jamar Giddings said one of the unique events they have planned is a kids’ Olympics. In addition to track events, West Mabee Olympians will compete in ping pong, Foosball and pool. Jamar said they have trips planned to the Oklahoma City Zoo and Gilcrease Museum. All three urban clubs will participate in Rock Philbrook Day June 19. Now here’s an event I definitely want to see…and taste. Pizza Hut has invited the West Mabee kids to “Pizza Day” where they will get to make their own pizzas with Pizza Hut supplies. Rowdy Days of Summer Camp costs $40 a week plus a $35 annual club membership and $10 registration fee.

North Mabee Boys & Girls Club is calling their Summer Day Camp “Fun! Fun! Fun!” Given that the club has a nice big pool, a photography darkroom and ballet and photography classes, there will be fun for everyone. Something the North Mabee Club kids enjoy every year that was news to me is attending the Juneteenth Rodeo. I knew about Juneteenth because two of our club leaders were given awards during it last year.

Summer Day Camp starts!

If you are impatiently waiting for the Summer Olympics to start, go to Sapulpa. The Sapulpa Boys and Girls Club kicked off their second week of Summer Day Camp, called “2012 Summer Games” today.  Administrative assistant Keli Johnson said they have some special field trips planned. One of them is to go to the Jasmine Moran Museum in Seminole, along with the Sand Springs Boys and Girls Club. I had not heard of the museum but after reading about it I can’t wait until my grandson Derek is old enough to enjoy it. It has an imaginary town where children can role play a variety of careers, including being a surgeon! (I hope the scalpels are made of rubber.) 
Another special field trip will be cruising on the Cherokee Queen on Grand Lake. The club kids will also attend a basketball clinic taught by the Tulsa Shock. The camp costs $75 a week, plus the $35 annual membership and a $10 registration fee. Kids should be from first grade to eighth grade to register. Call the club at 918-224-4415.

The Sand Springs Boys and Girls Club starts Summer Day Camp Mon., May 29. Sand Springs Club Director Greg Parker is in Boys and Girls Club training for four days, so administrative assistant Mary Bechtold gave me the scoop. “The Sand Springs centennial is this year, so we are calling our Day Camp Centennial,” she said. Every week will have a different theme, such as Western Week and Patriotic Week. To enroll in Summer Day Camp, kids need to have completed kindergarten and can be up to age 14. The cost is $90 a week, plus a $35 annual membership and a $15 registration fee. Call the club at 918-245-2237.

Summer Day Camp  will start Thursday (May 24) at the Broken Arrow Boys and Girls Club. So many kids attend the BA Day Camp that they are split in two groups; ages kindergarten through 5th grade and ages sixth through eighth grade. The cost is $100 a week, plus the $35 annual club membership fee, plus a $10 registration fee.

National Doughnut Day

Every year National Doughnut Day is celebrated across the country but what many people don’t know is that The Salvation Army is the reason for the holiday and for making doughnuts an American breakfast staple.  This year, The Salvation Army and Merritt’s Bakery are teaming up again to celebrate National Doughnut Day on Friday, June 1st!

It all started back in 1917 when a Salvation Army lassie, Helen Purviance and a fellow officer Ensign Margaret Sheldon used a small frying pan, simple dough and a wine bottle as a rolling pin to make crullers to feed to the homesick boys on the front lines in France during WWI.  The fresh aroma drew a long line of soldiers to their tent and soon they were serving 9,000 doughnuts a day, along with the other “lassies” in the trenches.  The Salvation Army lassies quickly became known as “doughnut girls” and the simple doughnut became a symbol of all that the Salvation Army was doing to ease the hardships of the frontline fighting man.  The soldiers returned from war with a new favorite snack, the doughnut and breakfast was forever changed!