The Salvation Army: A Faithful Legacy of Impact Through Job Creation & Transitional Housing.

Join me, Jeff Holden, as I speak with Peter Pemberton and Christina Kitchen as they discuss the vast range of services provided by the Salvation Army. Peter, recently promoted to Major and transferred to Sacramento, shares the organization's commitment to evolving and meeting modern needs while retaining its core religious and social mission. Christina, who has been with the organization for nearly 18 years, starting as a client, talks about the impactful programs in Sacramento, from emergency shelters to workforce development. The conversation highlights individual success stories, collaboration with local partners like SMUD, PG&E and the Sacramento Food Bank, and the importance of donor support. This episode is a deep dive into the tangible difference the Salvation Army is making in communities, offering hope and practical assistance to those in need as they work toward the elimination of substance abuse, homelessness and unemployment. 

00:00 Introduction and Welcoming Guests
00:24 Peter's Background and Transition
01:12 Overview of the Salvation Army
04:08 Core Programs and Services
05:38 Workforce Development and Emergency Shelter
07:09 Transitional Housing Programs
11:06 Faith-Based Approach and Community Collaboration
17:53 Funding the Mission: Streams and Challenges
18:46 Deferred Maintenance and Construction Training
19:40 Navigating Funding Restrictions
21:18 Dreaming Big: Vision for the Future
28:04 Success Stories: Transforming Lives
35:21 How to Get Involved and Support

To learn more about the services and support you can find at The Salvation Army, visit their website HERE.

Thank you so much for listening to this nonprofit story! We appreciate you. Please visit the website to sign up for our email updates and newsletter. https://www.nonprofpod.com/ And if you like, leave me a voicemail to comment on the program, leave a question for us to ask in the future or a message for me, Jeff Holden. I may even use your voice mail message in a future episode of one of our incredible local nonprofit organizations. https://www.nonprofpod.com/voicemail. Thanks again for your support in listening, commenting and sharing the great work our local nonprofits are accomplishing.

Transcript

Christine Kitchen: [00:00:00] I struggled with addiction for about 15 years. Have beautiful children that I birthed in addiction, that I lost custody to. I got pregnant, and the reality that this child was going to experience what my other children experienced kinda scared me and broke me to the point where I literally hit my knees and begged for God my higher power, whatever, whatever, was there to resolve that desire to live that lifestyle, and so I sought help.

Jeff Holden: Hi, I'm Jeff Holden. Welcome to the Nonprofit Podcast Network. Our purpose and passion is to highlight a nonprofit organization in each weekly episode. Giving that organization an opportunity to tell their story in their words, to better inform and educate the respective communities they serve, as well as provide one more tool for them to share their message to constituents and donors.[00:01:00] 

Our goal is to help build stronger communities through shared voices and to both encourage and support the growth of local nonprofit organizations through podcasting. Thanks to our partners for their support in getting these stories told. CAPTRUST fiduciary advice for endowments and foundations and Western Health Advantage, a full service healthcare plan for individuals, employer groups, and families.

This episode, we're highlighting the most trusted and enduring nonprofit. I know I'm going to give it away when I suggest that nearly everyone knows of them by their iconic red kettles we see during the holidays, but their work goes far deeper. Every single day, they are feeding hungry families, providing shelter for those without a home.

Helping individuals break the cycle of addiction, offering safe spaces for youth and delivering hope in times of disaster. From workforce development programs and construction and culinary arts to low barrier emergency shelters like the Center of Hope and Traditional Housing programs [00:02:00] to their food pantries, disaster Relief Services and family support programs.

You've probably deduced our conversations with the iconic organization and legacy organization, the Salvation Army. We'll hear how their team is restoring dignity, providing opportunity and building pathways to stability for the most vulnerable in our community. From San Sacramento County Coordinator, major Peter Pemberton, and a client turned longtime employee, Christina Kitchen, Peter Pemberton, Christina Kitchen.

Welcome to the Nonprofit Podcast Network. 

Peter Pemberton: Well, thank you. It's great to be here. 

Jeff Holden: I am so excited to have you here because this is an organization I wanted to speak to for some time and just with a variety of scheduling issues and what we're about to find out, uh, some changes at the Salvation Army as well.

This is a dual welcome. So, Peter, you are recently promoted from Captain to major. Congratulations. Thank you. [00:03:00] You're also, I'm going to say promoted from Portland to Sacramento. 

Peter Pemberton: There you go. That's right. 

Jeff Holden: How long were you in Portland? 

Peter Pemberton: I was in Portland for four years. 

Jeff Holden: Okay. Now I'm pretty astute and I'm going to guess that Portland is not native 

Peter Pemberton: to you.

It is not. It is not. 

Jeff Holden: That accent is not a Portland accent? 

Peter Pemberton: No, sir. Home is about 30 miles north of Louisville, Kentucky. Okay. In Southern Indiana. 

Jeff Holden: Okay. Very good. Very good. Well, welcome West. Thank 

Peter Pemberton: you. Thank you. It's great to be here 

Jeff Holden: and, and happy to have you. Yours is an organization that has incredible name recognition and identity.

Not to mention it's 150 years old. Everybody knows the Salvation Army. They know it for a variety of reasons. The least, the least of which is not the, the kettles, but we all do know those kettles. What a brilliant branding mechanism that was. So you are absolutely a legacy organization, which [00:04:00] comes with some challenges as well as they mature and they, you know, grow and grow and grow and grow and, and the maintenance.

Could you give us a brief rundown of what the Salvation Army. Is today so people can better understand the purpose. 

Peter Pemberton: Absolutely. I'm glad you asked that question because we really try to be an organization that evolves to meet the needs of the current generation. What is, what is being unaddressed? That communities need us to stand tall and address for the people in, in helpless situations.

So we do have to look at some of our traditions. We don't wanna lose our traditions, we wanna hang on to those, but we want to evolve as times need us to. So I think today we are definitely a, a religious organization at, at our core we are a church, but we are a church that has a, a very intrinsic. Social spend to what we do [00:05:00] as as our mission.

We feel that we are called by God to meet human need without discrimination in the name of Jesus. And that looks very different depending on what community you're in. So we don't really have cookie cutter programs out there, though we do replicate in some instances, but we really just try to integrate.

Our vast system, our network, our experience, our resources to really reach community needs in those specific communities. And in Sacramento, that's a lot of sheltering, transitional living, food insecurity, children's programs, those kind of things. 

Jeff Holden: And we'll get into those programs in just a minute too, because I think they're the crux of the conversation.

It's the services you provide, the people you touch, the impact of the organization, which is vast in this community with some of our significant community leadership's families, having had familiarity with the Salvation Army. Matter of fact, a handful that I'm aware of, of [00:06:00] our nonprofit leadership has been involved with the Salvation Army as a family back when they were growing up.

Because of just challenges that families can come across in so many different ways. We know now maybe more visibly than ever that humanity is suffering. There is a lot going on. You are serving, supporting, and working with many of those who are experiencing these issues. Could you walk us through some of the core programs that are most significant today?

Peter Pemberton: Absolutely. I mean, definitely sheltering is mm-hmm. A big issue in today's world. It doesn't take you, um, long driving through various communities to see people, the streets, and. So, you know, sheltering is something that we, we really take a hard look at in different communities. Transitional living. Mm-hmm.

That is another one. Sometimes people have gone through [00:07:00] programs and, you know, they've come, come through addiction, substance abuse programs successfully. But their past, it still hinders them from getting a leg up from getting jobs, from getting housing and those kind of things. So Transitional Living is another big program that that really helps to address community needs in today's world.

Those probably are the two biggest. Those substance abuse is definitely right there as well. You know, the Salvation Army, we try to lift programs in community that take people from the worst case scenario to a place of flourishing. We even have programs in Sacramento where we help people figure out how to own a home again.

So, I mean, you know, those kind of things are super special when you, when you're talking about someone who is living on the streets. Gone to a shelter, went through a transitional living program, and now they're about to receive the deed to their own home. That's, that's pretty impressive stuff. 

Jeff Holden: [00:08:00] Oh, unbelievable.

Christina, you have been with the organization now for almost 16 years, 10 years, 18 years. 

Christine Kitchen: Yes, and I'd like to talk a little bit more about actually the programs that we offer in Sacramento. So we do offer a workforce development program in Sacramento where we do a four week construction training program, and we also have a 16 week culinary arts training program.

These programs are open to anyone, anyone that's interested in willing to give of themselves to commit to these programs. We take them. 

Jeff Holden: Meaning not having gone through, they don't have to go through everything else. Salvation Army, they can go right to these programs. 

Christine Kitchen: Absolutely, absolutely wonderful. Which we encourage that, you know, of course we also accept clients that are integrated into our programs, but by no means do they have to be, they don't have to go through our programs to join us.

Mm-hmm. We have a center of hope, which is our emergency shelter, a low barrier emergency shelter where we can house a 140 individuals. 

Jeff Holden: Just took the question outta my mouth. I was gonna ask 

Christine Kitchen: and because we are a low [00:09:00] barrier, that means we pretty much accept anybody, anyone that's homeless in the Sacramento region, we will accept you as long as you can care for yourself and take care of all of your adult livings.

You know your ADLs? Mm-hmm. We will accept you into the program. 

Jeff Holden: Eight ADLs. 

Christine Kitchen: It's medical term. I don't know it to be honest. Okay. It's just saying that they can take care of their own. Yes. Like they can use the bathroom by themselves. They can take their own medications by themselves. Ah. They don't have any, like, we don't need to help them out of bed or anything like that.

Yes. So they need to be able to provide for themselves independently. That's what ADLs are. Mm-hmm. We also have two transitional housing programs. One for, that's specifically for men where we can house 52 gentlemen that are leaving treatment programs. We also have a family, which is called a family transitional program.

That's called ECL Rayley. And it is 32, 2 bedroom, one and two bedroom units where they actually live independently. 

Jeff Holden: And for the benefit of those who are thinking Braley, well, we have a grocery store here by the name of Rayley. 

Christine Kitchen: They're affiliated, 

Jeff Holden: was not only [00:10:00] affiliated, but the family early on used the Salvation Army to get them on the right foot.

Christine Kitchen: Yes, they did. It's a wonderful story. It is. Of how we and how we obtain the property. They actually gifted us this property to do what we're doing and we need many more like it to be sure, for sure. But it is a wonderful program with a very, very high success rate. Families are allowed to stay there for up to two years, and of those successfully completing the program, about 92% of them move into permanent housing.

Jeff Holden: Wow. 

Christine Kitchen: And I'll share one of those stories later on. We also have our family services office where a lot of our social services are done. All of our food delivery programs are done through there. We have a client choice pantry where individuals can visit us and get food Tuesday. Tuesday, Wednesdays and Thursdays every single day.

Tuesday, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. 

Jeff Holden: So almost like a A food bank? 

Christine Kitchen: It is like a food bank. It It is a food bank. It is a food bank. Yes. Yes. 

Jeff Holden: And where is that? The North Highlands location. 

Christine Kitchen: It is? Okay. Mm-hmm. 32 13 Orange Grove, north Highlands. Okay. We also do our [00:11:00] pg e assistance SUD assistance as well, as well as the rental assistance at that office.

Jeff Holden: Okay. 

Christine Kitchen: We also have afterschool program and a licensed daycare over at our Alhambra location. 

Scott Thomas: I think so. I think I, I 

Christine Kitchen: think I covered them all. There's just so many, so many programs in Sacramento to help every single person in need, regardless of what that need looks like 

Jeff Holden: on the transitional housing. How long can somebody stay in the transitional housing?

Christine Kitchen: Up to two years. 

Jeff Holden: Okay. So same as the families? Yes. Okay. 

Christine Kitchen: Mm-hmm. 

Jeff Holden: That's, it's amazing. Yeah. And, and you mentioned 52 men. Is there women's facility as well, or 

Christine Kitchen: children? The women would one more at the family shelter. Got it. Yeah. Okay. 

Jeff Holden: Okay. Looks like you're gonna say something, Peter. 

Peter Pemberton: No, I, you know what? When you have a walking thesaurus Yes.

That, uh, comes with you. You don't need to say a whole lot, you just let her, let her do the talking for a moment. The beauty of 

Christine Kitchen: both of our transitional programs is we don't, we don't just have them come in and they stay with us for two years. We really start to build them into [00:12:00] self-sufficient households.

Um, one of the things that we do is they pay a very small service fee to stay in our facilities. Many of those, those, those service fees go back to them. Savings. So when they leave us, their, their credit's repaired, they now have a savings. Most of them leave us if they stay for the full two years with a minimum of $5,000, which also builds into that home ownership program that we connect them, we try to connect them with so that they're able to furnish these houses when they move into 'em.

They're both very, very wonderful programs as long as people are willing to accept the help. 

Jeff Holden: So it also sounds like there's some financial resources. I don't mean giving of resources by financial education, financial literacy programs that are also within some of the transitional elements that you provide.

Yes. 

Christine Kitchen: At e Claire, we work with the city for their, through their financial empowerment workshop. Yep. And so we connect them through there. And then we have case managers that work with all of our other individuals at the men's transitional housing to build budgets, work [00:13:00] through any fi past fines, any past, um, child support, anything like that.

We help them work through that so that they become self-sufficient before they ever leave us. 

Peter Pemberton: That's some of the reason that the transitional living programs need to be as long as two years, because some of these folks are navigating, you know, legal repercussions from past decisions and things, and they need time to mm-hmm.

Reestablish themselves to, to get past those hurdles. So we are very intentional in trying to help them with that. 

Jeff Holden: You know, Peter, you mentioned the faith-based element of the Salvation Army. I think some people would think, Ugh, you know, I don't wanna, I don't wanna have to go to a, a church to find salvation, find some hope to deal with my issues.

Mm-hmm. But it truly is a non-denominational situation. It's not pushing any particular religion. It's really just a belief in a higher power. Correct. You wanna address that a little bit for the benefit of those who are thinking, Hmm. You know, I don't, I'm not sure [00:14:00] about. 

Peter Pemberton: Sure. Absolutely. Well, we, we definitely are Christians, so we do, we do believe Jesus is Lord.

Mm-hmm. And we are Wesleyan Armenian in, in our faith. But I wanna be clear about, about this. You do not need to come to our church to, to have your needs met. 

Jeff Holden: Thank you. That's when I wanna make sure it was clear. 

Peter Pemberton: Yeah. Our goal is always to introduce people to the hope that only Jesus can provide. But if they have a personal philosophy.

That keeps them from that, we're still going to meet their needs. We're going to treat them just as we do anyone else. We're going to treat them with human dignity. We care about that individual. Mm-hmm. We want, we wanna see that individual flourish in life. We want, we want to change the trajectory of generational poverty and imprisonment and, and we want to find hope for future generations, starting with that individual and their children.

So. They, they are certainly welcome to come to our church services. They're [00:15:00] invited to come to our church services, but that is not necessary to, to be served through our social programs. 

Jeff Holden: Good. However, I do firmly believe that hope comes from faith, as do I. Absolutely. You know, and there, there's certainly a faith, faith-based element in some way, shape, or form that's necessary for all of us to continue to go on.

Absolutely. In some way, shape, or form. The next question may be a little difficult because you're relatively new, but I'm not worried about Christina having some, some input on this one. Collaboration is really important today more than ever, especially with some of the changes that are going on with a variety of different things in the nonprofit space.

I could probably rattle off 10 organizations that you collaborate with, but Christina, are there any in particular that are. Overarching, many, many of the organizations that you deal with in town that are Yes. [00:16:00] Always. We're there. They're, they're, they're there for us. We're there for them. 

Christine Kitchen: Absolutely.

Sacramento Food Bank to name one 

Jeff Holden: Blake Young is phenomenal. 

Christine Kitchen: Phenomenal, phenomenal. And we couldn't do what we do without that collaboration, to be honest. SMUD and pg e, 

Jeff Holden: incredible organizations, 2 1 

Christine Kitchen: 1, a lot of our referrals come through 2 1 1 

Jeff Holden: Interesting. 

Christine Kitchen: Sacramento steps forward. 

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm. 

Christine Kitchen: You know, all of our homeless services are also.

Channeled through Sacramento steps forward, the Veterans Administration. Many of our beds at the shelter are occupied by veterans and they have been a very wonderful partner to work with, as well as Kaiser Permanente, San Juan Unified School District. Our transitional, our Family transitional program, many of those referrals come through San Juan through their McKinney-Vento Act.

Mm-hmm. Which is for homeless individuals. Pivot Hope Cooperative El Hogar for. People that are struggling with mental health issues as well as we've, I could, the list goes on and on and on. Mm-hmm. There's so many organizations that we collaborate with and continue [00:17:00] to try to build relationships with, 

Jeff Holden: and I'm happy to say we have relationships or have had episodes with the majority of those that you just spoke with.

Wonderful. So I'm excited to hear that there is that collaboration. It's so, so important today and it's, it's a key element of the conversation we have here. We've had people sitting where you're sitting. They'll mention something. I say, well, have you met with no. Didn't know they existed. They do now. And it becomes a unified effort to where they're working together in so many different situations and it's encouraging to hear you touch so many different facets of life overall that I can only imagine the elements of the community that you do get involved with to to be very vast.

How about law enforcement? And, you know, our sheriff's department. Is there a, a working relationship to support people who maybe could be involved with Salvation Army as a result of [00:18:00] maybe an incarceration? Or 

Christine Kitchen: funny that you brought that up, because one of our funding sources, our new funding sources at the shelter is we are housing individuals that are coming through Prop 47.

Which is people that are recently released from incarceration. 

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm. 

Christine Kitchen: And so we are having a large population of our shelter will now become those individuals. And so we have started working with the Prop 47 and Exodus and the city of Sacramento. 

Jeff Holden: Great to hear. Great to hear, and we didn't speak about that, so we didn't, so it just, it just seemed to make sense that it might exist.

Peter Pemberton: You know, further community collaboration exists through our advisory board for Sacramento. We have people from all walks of life that that can help us get into doorways that we otherwise would not be able to get into. And those folks are instrumental in helping us connect with folks who can really change the trajectory of people's lives.

Jeff Holden: Do you know how many people you have on your advisory board, 

Peter Pemberton: roughly? I do. We have, I believe right now we have 41. 

Jeff Holden: Okay. That's a yes. Good sampling of people. You're gonna have a lot of touch points in the community there. [00:19:00] Yep. It's a good, 

Peter Pemberton: robust advisory board. 

Jeff Holden: And to be clear, the advisory board is different than your board, correct?

Peter Pemberton: Correct, yes. We have a board of directors that resides in la but our advisory board is more localized and they help integrate us into community, help us strategically plan to meet community needs. They help us. Do things such as fundraising for the, for the nuances of programs that we want to either stand up or continue and they kind of hold us accountable to what the Salvation Army stands for, to make sure that us local officers and employees are, are representing the army well with integrity and doing what we say we're going to do.

Jeff Holden: We'll return to our incredible discussion of good work right after we hear from the people who make the program possible. 

Scott Thomas: Hello, this is Scott Thomas with CAPTRUST in our Sacramento office. I specialize in working with local nonprofits and associations annually. We survey private and public nonprofit organizations [00:20:00] across the country to better understand challenges they see in today's environment.

In our more recent survey, we hear concerns about proper board governance, mission aligned investment, and how to implement alternative investments. If you would like a copy of the survey or to discuss your organization, look me up, scottThomas@captrust.com. 

Jeff Holden: I'm thrilled to have Western Health Advantage partnering with us as they do so much to support so many nonprofit agencies in our community.

As a truly local health plan, you'll find individual and family options, employer options plans for CalPERS and Medicare Advantage. From medical services to pharmacy health and wellness support, as well as behavioral healthcare. Western Health Advantage has a plan that fits what you need as an employer for profit or nonprofit business, individual or family.

You can find more@westernhealth.com. I've been involved with the fundraising effort back in the day. It was quite, quite some time ago, [00:21:00] and it was for the breakfast. Oh, which was a. Staple for the longest time in the community. And I remember just how, I'm not gonna say easy, easy, it was, but the access was easy to get the opportunity to speak to somebody about contributing as a sponsorship or whatever it may have been for, for tables, because of the visibility of the organization, people knew it, and it just helped, you know, every, every step along the way.

And you mentioned funding, we're talking about fundraising. Let's address that a little bit. How is the organization funded? 

Peter Pemberton: Well, it, it, it is funded through different streams. We obviously have private donors. We also have companies that want to come alongside and support us, and then we also are funded through government contracts from federal, state, and local government.

Those, those are our main funding stream. Now, we do have some endowments and things that help along the way, but we really depend on our donors. We really depend on our donors [00:22:00] to stand tall. It's a pretty hefty lift to do all that we do in the, uh, Sacramento County area. It's a lift to the tune of over $8 million annually, so we definitely need our donors to, to respond and help us out when we do our, our annual campaigns.

You'll know as well as I do that, that deferred maintenance on properties is something that bites at you after a few years and especially when you are. Running programs such as homeless programs and transitional living a little 

Jeff Holden: rough on the properties, they're a 

Peter Pemberton: little rough on the properties. So, you know, we definitely need donors to come alongside and help to secure some funding to address property issues that otherwise we'll continue to worsen and, and we'll either have to be addressed or uh, or abandoned.

Mm-hmm. One or the other. Mm-hmm. 

Jeff Holden: Well, Christina mentioned that you have a construction. Program construction training program. So, so [00:23:00] there's, there's your deferred maintenance repair. That's a repair, that's a help. That's a, do they actually work on the properties? 

Christine Kitchen: They, their classes are our next step program.

Okay. And they, they actually put in a very nice concrete parking lot for us, so yes, we utilize their services. 

Jeff Holden: Good. With regard to funding, obviously there's, there's events that you do, which is, is one thing your, your donors, your philanthropic givers in the community, which we know. Somebody like Israelis and, and some of the other organizations that you mentioned as a, a faith-based church per se, you don't qualify in many cases for grants or federal money or probably even state and county money in some cases.

You did mention contracts. So are those fee for service work that you do for the, the state or the county? 

Peter Pemberton: So some of the contracts that we enter into, and, and I appreciate the the question because the reality is there are some. There are some funding streams that we'd love to tap into, but they just aren't a good fit for us because of who [00:24:00] we are and what drives our social response.

Um, so we do have special 

Jeff Holden: restricted funds. I would imagine you just can't. Absolutely. You can't. Do that. 

Peter Pemberton: Absolutely. We, we, we don't want to accept any funding that restricts us from being able to, to at least share the gospel. Mm-hmm. Now, as I said, there's no requirement for people to come, but we, we, we do not wanna be restricted from sharing the gospel, so we will pass on certain funding streams, but the reality is that we can often find ways to, to meet the criteria of that funding stream that, that, that particular grant or contract.

And hold hands very happily with one another where, where both sides are very pleased with the, the relationship. So, you know, but that takes intention. Sure. And it takes a lot of effort, especially effort on the parts of our employees. So, so we appreciate that. 

Jeff Holden: If I can ask you a question relative to that, let's imagine for a minute that you know, roughly $8 million that you [00:25:00] work with on an annual basis.

Somebody says, I will give you 10 times that. If you can give me a vision of what you would do with it That I like, oh my right. What, what would it look like? What would you do? 

Peter Pemberton: Well, we've not, we've not discussed this and we probably have different ideas, I think. Well, you can both give them, yeah. 

Jeff Holden: But you can do it from an overarching perspective of what you see because the services are somewhat agnostic.

Market to market to market. You know, what that might look like. And then Kristen could say, well, in Sacramento we would take that and apply it this way. So, so go ahead. 

Peter Pemberton: Absolutely. Well, you know, I am all about having a chain of services that take people from the very bottom. To the very top where, where they can really have a flourishing life.

And for me, we, we are almost there. Probably the one element that we don't have is, is mobile pantry. And I've seen mobile [00:26:00] pantry work in a lot of places. There's a, there's a lot of folks who really struggle to get to a brick and mortar building where food can be provided, where case management can be provided.

So I think in my dream of dreams, I would, I would probably have, uh, several mobile food pantries that are located out of our family services area, but they have dedicated routes and they, they go out and set up in parking lots at churches and, and different places. Who would, who would host the site for the day?

And we would just set up a mobile food pantry and let people shop and then we'd put it away and head back. That would be a big one. And then I, I, I think there's no shortage of need for continued transitional living centers. I, I feel like we have good transitional living programs that need to be replicated.

I really do. 

Jeff Holden: Yeah. And I, and I like, I like hearing what I'm hearing because you're reintegrating people back into society [00:27:00] successfully. The ability to move from there into their own housing and then advance from a rental to an owner. I mean, that's the American dream for so many people who come to the country, much less what it should be as well for the people who live here and giving them that ability to recognize that they can do it, you know?

And again, back to hope that they can. Really do what they would like to do 

Peter Pemberton: well, and that's often the key with the services that we provide. It's not just creating an opportunity for people to receive something. It's to receive the belief that they are better than what they think they are. 

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm. 

Peter Pemberton: That they can reach up, that they can pull themselves up by the bootstraps and someone will come alongside them and help hold them while they gain the strength to take the first step.

People are more resilient than they give themselves credit for. [00:28:00] We, when we, when we drive down the, the, the road through Sacramento and we see little tent cities here and there, I always find myself wondering, I wonder if they know how precious they are. 

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm. 

Peter Pemberton: You know, I wonder if they even have any idea.

And, uh, that's what we want to do. We want people to understand. They're not discarded, they're precious and they're better than that. And, and, and we have services that will, that will give them dignity and assist them and prop them up while they find the strength and the resilience inside. 

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm. 

Peter Pemberton: That's what we wanna provide.

Jeff Holden: We could end the episode right there. We, we won't, but, but we could. Christina, 

Christine Kitchen: yes. 

Jeff Holden: The vision, 

Christine Kitchen: what I would like to see is. Piggybacking off of what Major Peter said is more transitional living programs, maybe one that's set aside for single females. 'cause we don't have that in this community. My deep, deep desire is for us to have a adult [00:29:00] Rehabil Rehabilitation Center in Sacramento.

Again, you know, sa, salvation Army used, we used to have one and it went away about four years ago, I believe it was. And that is a. Important part of this holistic approach that Salvation Army believes in, right, is really working with those individuals that are coming out of addiction and offering them a place where they can go to get back on their feet and learn how to live life without drugs and alcohol.

And so that would be a. My desire is for us to have that ability to have a A RC program in Sacramento, which costs a lot of money. 

Peter Pemberton: Yeah. We would need that. That times 10. Yes, we would to stand. Yes. Well, there we go. 

Christine Kitchen: Yes, we would. 

Jeff Holden: And for the benefit of those who are listening who maybe already are supporters of the Salvation Army or have been.

Teetering on where they want to make some contributions. That's what we found important about this conversation because they see the vision and they say, Hey, you know what? I want help if I can get you one step closer to that. We want to hear what you would do if [00:30:00] you had the opportunity and, and now we have to come outta that cloud and come back to reality.

What is the greatest need? What do you see as the greatest need when you look at where the organization is today? 

Peter Pemberton: You know, we don't have enough, we don't have enough planned giving donors for our future. We need to secure, we need, we need a, we need a group of donors who say, Hey, I want to give to the Salvation Army in perpetuity.

And how do I do that? Because we have really good ways that someone can leave a legacy with us that helps sustain programs, uh, that are current and will help build programs that are dreams. Through future giving through legacies. Mm-hmm. That's the reality. You know, that that would be great. Other holes that we have, we're always working on deferred maintenance.

Jeff Holden: Sure. 

Peter Pemberton: That's that's a big one. 

Jeff Holden: That's 'cause you have facilities. We 

Peter Pemberton: have facilities, 

Christine Kitchen: yeah. Funding and [00:31:00] buildings. 

Jeff Holden: Yeah. Right. How many buildings do you have? Oh wow. Guess rough, rough. 

Peter Pemberton: We have, uh, we're roughly nine, not counting our residences that we have, we have at least 10, 10 major 

Jeff Holden: properties. Well, there's facilities and maintenance and everything that goes along with it, including operational.

Yeah, that's, that's, I didn't realize you had that many pieces of property, which is a lot. And I would imagine the age spectrum on them is newer to some fairly old. 

Christine Kitchen: I'm very old. Yes, yes. Our shelter is actually very old. 

Jeff Holden: Well, the organization's 150 years old, although I know that's not, we haven't, as long as we're in buildings here, Peter, I know you're a little new to the organization and new to the market, so I'll defer this question to Christina in terms of success stories.

And Christina, I don't want you to tell me about all the other people. First, I want you to [00:32:00] share your story because yours. Is one that is truly a success. So if you would, 

Christine Kitchen: absolutely. So I am a product of Salvation Army. I am a grateful, recovering addict that had I not went through Salvation Army, I probably would've been dead today, to be honest.

I struggled with addiction for about 15 years. Deep addiction have beautiful children that I birthed in addiction, that I lost custody to. I'm gonna get emotional and really felt like I had no way out. I got pregnant and the reality that this child was going to experience what my other children experienced kind of scared me and broke me to the point where I literally hit my knees and begged for God my higher power, whatever, whatever, was there too.

[00:33:00] Resolve that desire to live that lifestyle. And so I sought help and I sought that help at Salvation Army. I went through the program and fell in love with what it offered me. It offered me an understanding that I don't have to do it alone, that there were people there as Major Peter said to hold me up when I thought I couldn't hold up myself.

And it. Gave me the independence that I needed, the courage that I needed, and the therapy that I needed to let go. A lot of the guilt that I had for what I had put my other children through, and I decided I never wanted to leave. And so after, shortly after completing the program, which was in the Yuba, Sutter area, I.

Applied for a position there, and I literally have never left. I've now been employed with Salvation Army for almost 18 years in August and have all of [00:34:00] my children back in my life have my grandchildren that regularly visit me. And for the 

Jeff Holden: benefit of those listening that when you say all your children, this is.

We thought Fred McMurray had a lot of what, how big is the family? 

Christine Kitchen: So I have, I birthed seven children myself. I have 17 grandchildren and, and many adopted grandchildren and daughter-in-law, son-in-laws uhhuh. So it's very, very big. 

Jeff Holden: That's wonderful. 

Christine Kitchen: And it's a blessing. It's really is a blessing. 

Jeff Holden: And what a testament to the program as you've not only transitioned from addiction.

Into the transitional program to employment to advance to where you are today? 

Christine Kitchen: Yes. 

Jeff Holden: That's, 

Christine Kitchen: I started at the bottom, I was the boots on the ground for a very long time, and so it is, it's a miracle honestly, that I'm where I am today, but I'm very grateful for where I am and I plan to stay forever. 

Jeff Holden: Well, I 

Christine Kitchen: have me 

Jeff Holden: and, and the intellectual equity and experience that you bring to the [00:35:00] organization because the leadership changes every 4, 5, 6, 7 years.

You are still here. 

Christine Kitchen: I am. 

Jeff Holden: So you, you bring so much. Congratulations. What a thank you That. Is a wonderful story and I know you have a couple others, so I have you. I do have a couple. I want to get into those too. Yes, 

Christine Kitchen: I do have a couple others. Well, actually as we speak, we have four gentlemen that are doing their finals for our construction, I mean culinary arts training program.

So their finals consist of a full meal, chicken, chardonnay risotto, vegetables, a dessert, all from scratch. And after today, they will have completed, successfully completed the program and are ready to go out and actually work in the culinary field. They're ready. That's a major success for these gentlemen.

These gentlemen have come to us from clean and sober living programs and transitional living programs, as well as adult rehabilitation programs. 

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm. 

Christine Kitchen: And so that's four more gentlemen that are gonna be in the community soon and ready to work. I also [00:36:00] wanted to share about a gentleman that we had come to the shelter.

The gentleman had been to our shelter probably about three or four times that I, since I've been there, and I've been in Sacramento at the shelter for about nine years. He was never successful. He would primarily because of his addiction, but he was never successful. He always ended up leaving us usually on bad terms.

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm. 

Christine Kitchen: This last time that he came back, I don't know what it was that changed. I don't know if it was the little seeds that we plant each time that he came, but this last time he was willing to accept a little bit of help and so we connected him with Salvation Army in San Francisco, adult Rehabil rehabilitation program, and he went.

And after six months he decided, you know what? I'm not ready. I'm gonna stay another two months. And so he stayed there for eight months total, came back to Sacramento, is employed, reunited with his daughter, is housed, and doing very, very well. And as a matter of fact, he is now an employee of Salvation Army.

And so again, it just goes to show that the things that [00:37:00] we get from these programs. Become a valuable part of who we are. And so we wanna give back what we were freely given from the Salvation Army. And then I have one that we got, and I'm gonna actually read this verbatim. It's directly from a client.

Living at the Salvation Army was a blessing. I was given many resources from working with Pivot Sacramento to working with financial empowerment. I was able to get help updating my resume when switching career fields and have improved my credit score by 31 points. I came from another transitional program that told me that I was too independent to be successful.

I was constantly getting in trouble for not signing in out at the office each time I came and left, which each time I came and left, which was stressful. The Salvation Army was the complete opposite Samara, which happens to be our site supervisor. You have been one of my biggest cheerleaders always supporting me and encouraging me.

One of the biggest, biggest accomplishments I have been able to achieve by having a safe and supportive place [00:38:00] to live was getting custody of my daughter. The second biggest accomplishment was becoming a peer and family advocate for another local nonprofit where I now get to give back by supporting and encouraging others through their journey in recovery.

Lastly, I now have a beautiful two bedroom, two bath apartment in Natomas for my family and I to call home. This brings tears to my eyes because two years ago I was sitting on a floor eight months pregnant. I didn't think that was gonna get me getting high and begging God to help me. I would never have thought I would be where I am today.

And I honestly do not believe I could have done it all this without the support of Salvation Army, I am forever grateful. 

Jeff Holden: That's a great story and we know it's not the only one because there are so many that have gone through the program. What a wonderful, wonderful set of stories all the way around.

What's the best way to learn more about the organization in, if I want to, [00:39:00] to give, if I want, how do people even find, let's say I'm on the street and, and just, is it a referral basis? How do people show up at the organization? 

Peter Pemberton: Well, I, I personally think that because you may not 

Jeff Holden: have, maybe you have a cell phone, but you know you're going to, yeah, go looking for Salvation Army, you know, in your.

Your Google search? I mean, how do people literally end up at your doorstep? 

Peter Pemberton: Well, the good news is most libraries have computers, and so people do have access to computers. And the easiest way to find out more about what's happening in Sacramento with the Salvation Army is simply to go to our website.

Mm-hmm. Sacramento dot salvation army.org, and at that website. They can learn about the different services. They can learn how to support our services, how to, how to volunteer, how to give as a donor. There are plethora of ways that they can be plugged into the Salvation Army, whether that be as a client getting [00:40:00] services rendered to them, or being a partner that's helping bring hope to an individual.

Christine Kitchen: And if you have a phone calling two one one or literally walking in the door, our shelter, we will try to connect them with every resource we could possibly connect them. 

Jeff Holden: Would you give the address of the North Highlands location? 'cause that's where they would go, correct? That's 

Christine Kitchen: where they would go for food.

Okay. But if they're looking for all of the resources that we have available, the best place to go would be the shelter, which is a 1200 North B, Sacramento, California 9 5 8. 2, 1 1, 9 5 8, 1 1. There we go. 

Jeff Holden: Okay, and I'll, I'll put all of this in the show notes as well so that if somebody looks, they can find out where we're going or where they're going.

We think we know about an organization because we know the name or we know a little bit about their history as a result of the image or the brand or the identity of which you have such legacy. The red, the kettles, the awareness of the Salvation Army. Because you're there in so many situations, [00:41:00] but there's so much more that you do for our community that makes us a better place.

So thank you. You know, first of all, Peter, welcome again. 

Peter Pemberton: Thank you. 

Jeff Holden: And, and thank you, Christina, because you've seen it from personally the worst place to professionally now the best place after 18, almost 18 years. And if you stick around for 18 years, you must like something about the organization, right?

Absolutely. To your team, to your army of people, uh, how many do you employ? 

Peter Pemberton: Oh, gosh, that's a great question. If I was to guess right now without the, the numbers in front of me, I think we have in the Sacramento County area, and this does not include. Our divisional headquarters, which is also housed in Sacramento County.

We have 10 officers and roughly 50 employees, I would guess. Yes. Yeah, yeah. Roughly 50 employees. So, which, 

Christine Kitchen: when you think about the mass amount of [00:42:00] services that we provide, that's a small drop in the bucket. Yeah. You're really, 

Jeff Holden: and and you have a huge volunteer. Basic, I'm, I'm assuming, works. We do have volunteers 

Peter Pemberton: that come and support us.

Absolutely. Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: Good. Well, thank you again. We are truly blessed to have such great leadership, and I mean that in so many different ways. Through your team, through your people, for what you do and the services you provide to alleviate some of the greatest stressors on our community, meaning homelessness and substance abuse, and transition to productivity.

I'll add not to forget faith, you know, and a belief as as a church. So thank you for both. Thank you both for, for sharing and taking the time to come in. And Peter, again, welcome to Sacramento. We're excited to have you here, Christina. I'm sure I will see more of you because I will be sending you information from others that I think might benefit [00:43:00] through some association.

Christine Kitchen: Thank you for having me. 

Jeff Holden: Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Nonprofit Podcast Network. I hope you enjoyed the episode. If what you heard moved you, please reach out to that organization and do what you can to help. If you like and appreciate what we're doing to support local nonprofits, please give us a positive review.

Subscribe and share. If you're a nonprofit with an interest in participating in an episode, you can reach me at jeff@hearmeowstudio.com. Once again, we're grateful for the businesses who have made this program possible. Captrust fiduciary advice for endowments and foundations. You can find them in Sacramento, Roseville and Folsom captrust.com and Western Health Advantage, a full service healthcare plan for individuals, employer groups, and families.

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