Life audio. Hi, from the Salvation Army. You're listening to Words of Life. Welcome back to Words of Life, and for our listeners listening in the future, we believe this is only the second time we've recorded a Words of Life interview in front of a live studio audience. That wasn't canned applause.
They're actually here. Today is Veterans Day, and so in this episode, we wanted to have a conversation with someone who could share something that the Salvation Army is doing that's really powerful and how we are caring for our veterans.
So, please welcome to the stage Major Thomas McWilliams. I feel like I need to do like the Jimmy Fallon intro, or you should have had a dance or something. I wish you would. We had people that clapped, but they know me very well, so they were being very kind.
Well, for those especially not in this room, could you please just introduce yourself and what your current role with the Salvation Army is? Major Thomas McWilliams, the Metro Atlanta Area Commander, which I've had the privilege to be for now four and a half years, and love Atlanta. Awesome.
So, like I said before, today at the time of this recording, it is Veterans Day.
So, first, are there any veterans in this room? Thank you so much for your service. And as we have this conversation, Major, why is it important for the Salvation Army to talk about how we are caring for our veterans? You know, the Salvation Army has a tremendous history with veteran services. As a matter of fact, here you participated in Donut Days and talked about World War One and just a long history of veterans.
But the Salvation Army, you know, we find ourselves going to where people are broken and where people need dignity and hope. And what a great population to serve than those who have served for us to help them find that hope and dignity. Amen.
Something really cool that happened recently—just one of those God-timing things. We had already set up this interview.
Well in advance of this, and then Bernie, my boss, surprised us with a field trip. We had no idea where we were going, and where we ended up going was to the Center of Hope that we have brought Major here to mostly talk about.
So this is in Atlanta. If you could just tell us what the Center of Hope is, what what is its purpose? What you're looking at in the in the building is a miracle. That was a parking lot, and in three and a half years, I got a front row seat to watch the Lord take us from four million dollars to thirty-seven million dollars successful campaign. And in a COVID era where you had cost escalations and supply chain problems, the building was fully built, and so I got a chance to be on the front row to see this building, which houses two floors of veterans.
And so I got to see this firsthand what this looks like, and we also saw what the previous facility was, and kind of probably what more traditional housing looks like in this. Type of service, but when we went into the two floors of veterans housing, these are apartments. And so, could you just share, like, what do we actually offer these veterans, and why is it so powerful and important to them? The veteran program has always been a vital piece of what we do. We work closely with the VA hospital and with other veteran providers.
When we built the building, we wanted to make sure that we brought dignity to this population because they were sleeping in a congregate room in bunk beds. And what we did was decided to construct two whole floors of that, which, by the way, has some of the best views of Midtown Atlanta that you could have, and give them their own apartment. Each one has their own bedroom. Every two has a common room and their own bathroom. And I tell people, and it's true, it looks much better and is much better than the college dorm that I lived in.
Yeah. You know, when we were there, it's kind of one of those things where you just have a busy day. You're trying to follow maps, figure out where you're going, and you don't necessarily always, when you're doing something like that. I think probably a lot of officers can relate to this, but sometimes you you forget that you're about to enter something that you might have some very strong emotional reactions to. And I didn't realize, or I wasn't prepared for, some of the emotions that I felt when we ended up in the cafeteria and there was a Elderly veteran, oxygen mask, and he was just sitting alone at this table, just waiting for lunch to happen.
And I just can't help but see my own father in this man. And you just, why are you alone? And you just want to fix everything. And the fact that you guys serve this population day in and day out. And Thomas, I can't remember his last name.
Thompson. Thomas, what Thomas Thompson? That's amazing. He's a rock star name, but he, the way he spoke about everyone that you guys care for, they are all your guests, and just the the dignity and true love that you see from every level of person who is working in this building is incredible. And so, just first of all, pause to just say thank you for what you guys do.
It's it's amazing.
Well, what what happens there? The miracle that we've got to experience was actually. Touched by a lot of people in this building. And so everyone's a you know a part of that too. And the veterans can be with us for up to two years, so we become their home.
We become who they they hold on to. And actually, we have a lot of our employees at the Center of Hope that came through our veteran program that now just speak into the lives of others in such tremendous ways. It's it's a fantastic cycle to see. Yeah, that's incredible.
So as we kind of just like zoom. In, what are some of the challenges that veterans do face when they return to civilian life? You know, a lot of people. We all know, and we have the picture in our head. If somebody went to combat and they come out with PTSD, there is that for sure.
But there is also a whole section of veterans that go into the service when they're young. They're coming out of their own home. They go into service, and then for however long they're in service, they're completely taken care of. Every need, everything. They don't have to really make a lot of decisions in life, and and they're trained in some way.
Well, when they come out, they're much older. They're they may be trained in something that's marketable, but they may not be. And they come out and then what? And the military has said you are going to get this benefit and this benefit and this benefit, but navigating through the the administration of the VA is time consuming and incredibly difficult. And a lot of them give up and end up.
Homeless, and don't take advantage of that.
So when we work with our veterans, the first thing we do is we identify what they're not getting, they should be getting, and then we take that battle on for them because they're just not equipped to do that. And we start flowing into them VA benefits that they get to have, and that starts their their journey to self sufficiency.
Well, can you share a specific person's journey and just kind of just share a success story with us of what this looks like? Those that have been on the tour, and we've had a couple of tours for people have been on there. Mr. Lemon is—he is now in his late seventies. He came out of the military; he was a Navy man, very proud of it.
Still wears his Navy hat, very proud. He lived in the bushes of Atlanta for twenty years. His he came out of the service. His wife left him. He had nowhere else to go, and he developed an addiction.
Ended up living in the bushes. Came to the Salvation Army, and didn't stick because he was so so antsy about his life and had lived so feral for so long that was difficult. And then he came back. And when he came back, he stayed and went through our entire program two years. We hired him from that point.
He now is a spokesman, informal spokesman for us, because he meets the tours and we don't ask him to, and he just starts talking. And sometimes I got to tell him, "Mr. Lemon, you're all right. You can do that." More than that, he became a soldier. And he is a leader in the Sunday morning services that we have there, where we average about one hundred, one hundred twenty people on Sunday morning services, and he's a leader there.
And he just wants to talk about what has happened to him in that place. I said we might not have time for this section, but I think we do. Can we just talk about what is even the biblical call for us to serve veterans? Why should Christians in general be concerned about this? You know, when when I hear this and think about this, I think about what a privilege it is to be a part of the Salvation Army, because I think about what were the things that Jesus said for us to do, and what what would be pleasing to Him, and it was.
Obviously, to follow him, and to love your neighbor. And in the Salvation Army, we do that openly, and and just just throw ourselves out there into that work, and and that's the purpose of our being. And what a what a tremendous double benefit for the community, for people we serve. And it's been interesting that as we were doing the Capitol campaign, I was visiting the C suite offices in the Midtown. People would ask.
The the high level administrative people for these corporations would ask about our Christian stance, gave us a chance to talk about this very thing that we are the double threat, because we both serve the Lord and we meet people where they need.
Well, Major, when you look at the work happening at the Center of Hope, what gives you the most hope for veterans who are rebuilding their lives? Especially since we moved into the new place, when I walk in there, I can't tell you how many veterans come up to me and just open up in ways they never have because they are experiencing something they haven't experienced.
Some of them in decades, and they are just so appreciative. And it's funny in the five story tower, we have a couple of floors of single and attached. Folks, and then we have the two floors of the veterans, and the two floors of the veterans. We don't have to touch; they take such pride in those floors that they take care of everything, and it has really helped us on our payroll because we thought we were going to have to hire a bunch of people to clean those floors, but they have just taken it on. And to be there when they got moved from the congregate living room in bunk beds to their own apartment room.
Was one of the great moments that I'll take into retirement someday. Amen.
Amen.
Thank you again, and thank you to your team for everything you guys are doing. It is really incredible. I'd like to ask you if you could close this conversation in prayer, as we just we pray over not just our veterans, but over families, military families who currently have loved ones that they are not going to see this holiday season. And I would just love to pray a blessing over Elroy. Father, I thank you for your goodness.
I thank you for the the miracle of of this facility. I thank you for the lives that are being changed, the hope that is being given, the brokenness that's being addressed, the dignity that's being showered on people that have experienced it, some in their entire life. And I pray for every one of our clients. I pray that you would just bless them, hold them close. If we have some of our clients today that are thinking about leaving because they're they're anxious or or they feel the draw to to to just leave, I pray that you would you would you would just settle with them, and that you would hold them and let them know that that this is a place.
Where they can have self-sustainability, where they can find you, where they can have a life. We love you, and we thank you, in Jesus' name, Amen. I invite you to join us this morning in committing to this prayer, not just to serve veterans, but wherever our calling is. To serve those that we have been called to reach, regardless of who they are, if they have filthy feet, we're called to wash those feet. If we don't agree with someone, we're still called to reach them for Jesus.
So I invite you to stand and join us as we sing this song this morning. Thanks so much for listening to Words of Life. We want to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on the show. Visit LifeAudio.com, where you'll find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network. They have shows about prayer, Bible studying, parenting, and more.
Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time.
