Bay Ridge

Salvation Army’s Bay Ridge corps sets goals for fall season

September 16, 2014 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Lt. Joel Ashcraft (center) the top officer at the Salvation Army’s Bay Ridge corps introduced himself to Community Board 10 Monday night. Board Chairman Brian Kieran and District Manager Josephine Beckmann welcomed him to the neighborhood.
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It’s only mid-September, but the Salvation Army is already thinking about Thanksgiving.

Lt. Joel Ashcraft, the officer-pastor of the Salvation Army’s Brooklyn Bay Ridge Corps, made his first appearance at Community Board 10 Monday night and outlined the charitable army’s mission for the fall season.

“We have a very high need to help families during Thanksgiving,” Ashcraft told Board 10 members at their monthly meeting in the Shore Hill Community Room at 9000 Shore Road. Ashcraft estimated that the Bay Ridge corps helps 1,500 people every Thanksgiving.

“We either give them a turkey or a gift card,” he said. In some cases, the gift card is preferred, because it allows the recipient to do the food shopping for his or her family rather than accept a food donation, Ashcraft said.

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The Salvation Army’s goal is to “give needy families a sense of dignity,” he said.

The Bay Ridge corps, located at 252 86th St., has been helping people in need in the community for over 105 years, according to Ashcraft.

The Salvation Army, a worldwide Christian service organization, has 39 community centers in the New York area, including five in Brooklyn, according to the group’s website.

The Salvation Army operates 7,546 centers across the U.S. The services it provides run the gamut from disaster relief to combating human trafficking. The army also runs rehabilitation centers and distributes food and clothing to the poor. Its mission is funded through a variety of means, including corporate donations, the sale of goods at its Salvation Army Family stores and most famously, via donations people place in the red kettles the army has on the street during the holiday season.

The 86th Street site in Bay Ridge offers a wide variety of programs, Ashcraft said. There is an after-school for children, music and art classes, recreation, Christian education classes, food and nutrition programs, emergency financial assistance, senior citizen clubs, as well as worship services for teens and adults.

The center also helps feed and clothe needy families, Ashcraft said.

For more information on the services provided by the Salvation Army’s Brooklyn Bay Ridge Corps, call 718-238-2991.


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