WASHINGTON CITY — The words above the building read “The Salvation Army,” while the words below read “Doing the Most Good.” 

Under those signs and a rainy sky that cleared away to blue, The Salvation Army opened their relocated Southern Utah service center and office Monday morning in Washington City. 

The new location, at 568 W. Telegraph behind the Sonic Drive-In, replaces The Salvation Army’s previous home base for its St. George Outpost at the former Kmart Shopping Center on Bluff Street in St. George, which is being renovated and rebuilt as St. George Place.

Ed Tracy, president and CEO of the Washington Area Chamber of Commerce, noted that the building was once the chamber’s headquarters.

“This used to be our office so if there’s any marks in the wall, I apologize,” Tracy said at the official grand opening/ribbon cutting. 

Maj. Bob Schmig, the officer-in-charge of the St. George Outpost, told St. George News the hope is that the new larger space will allow the local outpost to do more toward “doing the most” to help those locally in need. 

“The main goal is that they get back on their feet,” Schmig said. “We’re going to work on a needs assessment to find out what we can add to what we already do now to kind of fill in the gaps in the community as far as need is concerned.”

At this point, the new home base in Washington City will continue to provide food boxes and bus tickets and work with Deseret Industries to provide clothing vouchers to the needy, Schmig said but added that he expects the new location will allow for them to provide additional services. 

About twice a week, Army officials said, a truck from the Utah Food Bank will arrive with more food for the needy. Angela Torres, manager of operations for the Utah Food Bank, said since the local Salvation Army partnered with the food bank in May 2016, it has distributed 348,959 pounds of food to those in need. 

And she says having the new home base in Washington City will help satisfy a food drought there. 

“The resources are very scarce here. The only resource that Washington City residents have is our mobile pantry, and that’s at the Washington City Rec Center,” Torres said. “So now having this food pantry here is going to help those community residents who are in need of emergency food assistance.” 

While The Salvation Army has 158 years of history from its 1865 founding in the United Kingdom, its history in St. George is seven years old. Donald Bush, who started the St. George Center in 2016, said the Southern Utah outpost came about when his wife, a teacher, came home one day distraught about a needy student who lived with his mom in a pickup truck. 

After reaching out to The Salvation Army, he found out they had been petitioned for 15 years to come to St. George.

“The Salvation Army had been in Utah for over a hundred years, but no representation here in Washington County,” he said.

Local Army officials say with the larger center, they hope the outpost can expand into being a corps like that in Salt Lake City and Ogden.

And the main source of funding comes with those familiar bell ringers as part of the Annual Red Kettle Christmas Campaign starting Nov. 13. 

Schmig said this year’s Red Kettle Campaign will determine what kind of gift-giving the Washington City center will be able to provide in the seasons to come. 

“A lot of people think, ‘Oh,  that just funds your Christmas activities.’ No, we count on that all year too to help us. So it’s very important,” Schmig said, adding that not only is the clanging of coins needed this year but also those to ring the bells. 

“We are in really in need of kettle ringers this year,” Schmig said. “Last year, we were able to do it with all volunteers. We didn’t have to pay any ringers. So that’s what we’re doing this year. Washington County is very generous so it’s just being able to get the people out there to ring and help us out.”

Those interested in being a Red Kettle Campaign volunteer should go to registertoring.com. To help with other needs, donations or to find out more about services, check out this website.

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