April 29, 2016 3
Dreams come true for young women at Fairytale Boutique
The Fairytale Boutique in Greenville, North Carolina, is helping young women’ s dreams come true this prom
season.
• Salvationists serving helpfully
The Salvation Army of Pitt County, North Carolina, in partnership with Eastern Carolina University’ s Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement, is hosting a free dress shop for young women who cannot afford to purchase a prom dress. No appointment is necessary to shop at the Fairytale Boutique, but participants are required to bring a parent or guardian, their current report card or documentation of current enrollment in the school system and a photo ID.
Austin Army celebrates Rathgeber
By Laura Poff SOUTHERN SPIRIT STAFF
Dick Rathgeber, longtime advisory board member for The Salvation Army in Austin, Texas, was named an honorary colonel at Austin’ s annual luncheon held April 21. During the luncheon, Rathgeber also received the city’ s first Doing the Most Good Award for the role he has played in supporting The Salvation Army for
several decades.
• Salvationists
serving helpfully
The Honorary Colonel Award has been given to only seven people since its inception and is one of the highest awards a non-officer can receive.
Rathgeber, a land developer, became involved with The Salvation Army in the 1970s and has been active on local and national advisory boards ever since.
The son of a Lutheran minister, he says that one of the reasons
The Salvation Army Naples Regional Coordinate hosted the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Fran Cohen Youth Center, which will fill a critical need for many Collier County children who do not have access to social and educational programming and activities after school and during the summer. The center will have computer labs, sports activities, a creative arts school and a variety of workshop and classroom space.
With a gift of $ 2.2 million, the largest single gift in the command’ s history, Naples resident Janet Cohen helped move the dynamic project forward. The center is named in honor of Harvey and Janet Cohen’ s daughter, Fran, who died in 2010.
“ Mrs. Cohen’ s gift was a godsend for
“ The Salvation Army wants to make a way for all young women to find the perfect dress for prom,” said Captain Andrea Sikes, corps officer for The Salvation Army of Pitt County.“ Prom is very expensive and some girls cannot go because of that. Through these wonderful donated dresses and accessories from the community, all will have the opportunity to go and dance the night away with their friends.”
The Salvation Army has collected dresses, shoes and accessories from donors in the community for several months and is still seeking those items to make sure that every young woman receives a dress. This season, the Fairytale Boutique has assisted 36 young women with their prom apparel.
The Salvation Army,” said Major Dan Proctor, Naples regional coordinator.“ We are grateful for her vision and foresight in meeting the needs of many children in the East Naples area through this wonderful center.”
Philanthropist Myra Janco Daniels, founder of the Philharmonic Center for the Arts, chaired the $ 5 million capital campaign to build the center. She is dedicated to positively impacting the lives of local youth. Daniels formed a support group for the campaign called The Latchkey League, which conducted many fundraisers that resulted in a gift of $ 221,700 for the Fran Cohen Youth Center construction.
“ I think that helping children to be successes in life is very important,” Daniels said.“ They are our future.”
Members of The Salvation Army Women’ s Auxiliary have been making minor alterations to dresses such as hemming and seam alterations to make sure the dresses are the perfect
( L-R) Lt. Colonels Henry and Dorris Gonzalez. Lt. Colonel Ken Luyk and Sara and Dick Rathgeber. he has supported the Army all of these years is that the organization has a good return on investment and fills a real need in the community.
He and his wife, Sara, have donated the land for several important projects in Austin, including 7.6 acres beside Austin Shelter for Women and Children, allowing the area command to serve more families in need. In the 1980s, the Rathgebers donated two thirds of the land needed for a shelter in downtown Austin.
Over the years, the couple has received several awards from the Austin community including the Philanthropist of the Year Award in 2008, Austin’ s Most Worthy Citizen Award in 2008 and Austin’ s Best Citizen Award in 2007.
Young women who visit the Fairytale Boutique can choose from an array of gowns.
“ When Dick is confronted with a roadblock, he finds a way to get over, under it or around it to accomplish his goal,” said Lt. Colonel Henry Gonzalez, area commander, to the Austin American-Statesman.“ Dick is an amazing man who has a big heart and is willing to share what he has with others so that Austin will be a better community.”
The Rathgebers also donate their time, land and money to several other nonprofit organizations in Austin and around the world.
“ I just want to leave the world a better place than I found it,” he said.“ I’ m not going to be able to solve all of the world’ s problems but it’ s a lot better to light a few candles than to curse the world’ s darkness.”
Major Proctor agreed.“ We are grateful for the work Mrs. Daniels and The Latchkey League have done to help bring this project to fruition, and look forward to helping shape the lives and fit. The Women’ s Auxiliary provides support and services to the programs of the Salvation Army and organizes fundraisers to help raise funds to support these programs.
Texas disaster teams deployed for flood relief
Salvation Army officers, staff and volunteers in Houston provided emergency assistance to citizens affected by extensive area flooding.
More than 400 meals and 40 cleanup kits were distributed to residents of two apartment complexes by
• Salvationists serving helpfully
the disaster team from the Pasadena Corps while the Northwest Corps mobile kitchen served 450 meals in the Greenspoint area. Meanwhile, the mobile kitchen and team from Kerrville, who made the four-hour trip to Houston, established fixed meal service at the Harvest Time Church in Greenspoint, distributing more than 250 meals and 150 cleanup kits.
Captain Lacy Parrish, from Kerrville, reflected on her day of service.“ It has been a long and busy day working disaster response in Houston, serving meals to many individuals and families and handing out cleaning supplies. We’ ve been so blessed to serve the people in this community. We’ ve prayed with many and shown the love of Christ.”
Staff and volunteers at The Salvation Army Northwest Corps Community Center cooked and prepared meals to be delivered by the mobile kitchens. Several regular church activities were cancelled and church members volunteered their time to help in food preparation and delivery.
Financial donations to support the ongoing flood relief work of The Salvation Army in Houston can be made at http:// tsatx. org / houstonfloods, or by calling 1-800-SAL-ARMY.
Naples command youth center is underway
Dignitaries begin scooping dirt as work gets underway for Naples’ youth center.
futures of the many children and teens this facility will serve,” he said.
The Salvation Army anticipates opening the facility’ s doors to Collier County youth in April of 2017.