Heart Connection links West with Army need

THANKS TO WESTERN compassion, the girls at the Army’s children’s home in Palu, Indonesia, will have a new facility in which to live.

Territorial totals in support of World Service/Self Denial appeals continue to grow while, simultaneously, a consistent and steady decline in soldier giving has become apparent. This reality prompted territorial leaders to initiate a new program designed to establish personal contacts between Western soldiers and those in Army territories throughout the world whose programs are largely supported through grants from International Headquarters.

Each Army unit will have a “Heart Connection” with a corps or unit in the designated grant-assisted territory. The program will be coordinated by Lt. Colonel Janice Buchanan, territorial secretary for missions.

Visits by officers and soldiers to these poverty stricken, often destitute parts of the world stimulate strong awareness of the great needs within these countries. Attitudes change. Giving increases as Christian love becomes more meaningful through personalized contacts.

The “Heart Connection” will provide a link between people in the West and people living and working on the mission field. It is designed to “put a face” on the desperate needs of hungry humans craving physical and spiritual sustenance, as well as on our fellow Salvationists’ ministry in these countries. Members of corps and other Army units will be encouraged to understand the life challenges facing people in these lands. Possible on-site visits may occur.

It is not intended at this time that units will engage in direct financial support of their “sister” unit. With many adopted programs, it would be a financial impossibility for a corps to support total budgets. “It’s not a financial connection, it’s a ‘Heart Connection’,” stated Buchanan.

“Our first obligation is to maintain the ongoing support for the total World Service budget. Otherwise, much needed programs will fail. We wouldn’t want a hospital to close, nor a school for the blind, nor a corps. No. Our first obligation is to meet the commitments we’ve already made,” she said.

Each division has been linked with a particular grant-assisted territory on the basis of some prior connection between that territory and soldiers. These territories represent all zones of the Army world. Units within that mission territory will be selected by each unit in the division and asked to establish a creative, on-going, personalized, Christian love connection.