Who to believe?

As a Lesbian, I have read the stories and seen the pictures about Salvation Army Christmas bell ringers being homophobic, going so far as to post signs on their kettles "We help people, just not the gays".There is also a story circulating that during a radio interview, a Salvation Army member said that all gays "should be put to death".

Like any story I'm sure there are 2 sides.  And like many organizations, there are zealots who take their beliefs too far and don't actually reflect the original views of the group they are representing. I don't know anyone who is a member of the Salvation Army, so I've never had the opportunity to sit down with them to discuss their beliefs.

I always like to try and do my own research (even if it is just a Google search) on topics before I fully believe something controversial - if you can ever fully believe one side over the other.  This one has been harder to research.  The radio interview  seems to be true, since there is a recording off it for all to hear.  The pictures of the bell ringers are often debunked as having been  Photoshopped.  There are very few mainstream news articles about the subject.

I started down this road yesterday when a friend posted an upcoming 5 km race on Facebook.  There aren't a lot of December races, so I thought I would sign up.  But it turns out it's a fundraiser for the Salvation Army.  Years of LGBTQ "habits" kicked in, and I said, thanks but no thanks, I'm no supporting them. I realized however that I had no actual proof of my own that they were indeed a homophobic organization.  So I sent off this email to the contact person for the race:

I am considering entering the Santa Shuffle, but I am concerned with rumours I have heard regarding the Salvation Army.  I am a Lesbian, in a relationship for 20 years, and my partner and I have an 11 year old son.  As you can understand we do not support homophobic groups, or groups that would not help out our family if we are in need.  

I recognize that the Salvation Army does great work in helping out families, especially around the holidays, so I'm hoping that you can comment on the Salvations Armies views on gay and lesbian families like mine, and whether your help would indeed be extended to us in a time of need.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Andy

I figured that would be the end of it and that I would not hear back from them. Imagine my surprise when I got a response in less than 2 hours, late on a Friday night.

Hello Andy

I am very glad that you reached out to me directly.

I am also very glad that in this case, I believe the truth will help get us all on the same page,

Firstly, let me say that as the largest non-government provider of social services in Canada it is our mission to help anyone in need, period. In every case of assistance, our decision to help or not is based entirely on the individual's need and our capacity to help, and nothing else. We are happy to - and regularly do - provide services to people of every race, religion, belief etc., and certainly this includes any and all members of the LGBTQ community.

To answer your question directly, if your family was in need our response would be entirely dictated by your need and our capacity and nothing else. We would be happy to help.

Recently, in particular, there have been a couple of stories making the rounds. The Salvation Army responded to those directly a little while back and I am happy to provide the link for your information: http://www.salvationarmy.ca/maritime/2013/10/07/the-salvation-armys-response-to-allegations-of-lgbtq-discrimination/

Of these two stories, one is a complete fabrication, which is terrible for all parties involved.

The other is an example of one individual - who was employed by The Salvation Army in Australia - saying things that in no way reflect the beliefs of the Army. Immediately - without delay - The Salvation Army across the world came out against those statements, making it clear that while this person was employed by us, he in no way reflected our previously posted and still adhered to beliefs. Our organization is very large - in Canada alone we are in 400 communities and employ 10,000 people - and now are in almost 130 countries. You add all that up and it's a lot of people who 'represent' the Army, and unfortunately sometimes people think ways and act ways that don't jive with our posted beliefs of service to all. This is no excuse, just an unfortunate reality,

The very last thing I want to say is that this extends way beyond paper and policy. People share details of their lives beyond what we ask for, so I personally know of clients of ours who are members of the LGBTQ community, and that detail is completely irrelevant when it comes to the services we provide. They are treated no different than anyone else.

I apologize if this response is a little long, but I do hope that after reading it and looking into our official responses to recent issues, that you will agree that when it comes to services that we provide to people in need, our top priority is to not discriminate for any reason.

We would love to have you at the Santa Shuffle. If for any reason, you decide the Santa Shuffle is not for you, obviously that's fine, but I am glad that you asked this question, and I hope that I have helped shed a little light on the matter.

Have a good evening,

Daniel Bonner
Communications Specialist
Maritime Division
Public Relations and Development

Well then.

I feel like I'm back to "Who do I believe?"  I doubt if they really are a homophobic group that Daniel would have written that in an email to me.  He is after all a Communications Specialist in the Public Relations and Development department. But he talks a good talk and makes it sound like they are very inclusive.

I still don't know if I'm going to enter the race and I rarely make cash donations to anyone standing outside a store, bells or no bells, so I don't think that habit will change.

Who do you believe on this one?  Do you know anyone who is an active member of the Salvation Army?  Do you know anyone who has ever been helped by them?  Have you ever personally been discriminated by them?

Future Electrician

Liam is picking up some great life skills while we get the apartment cleaned up.

Passing on a tradition

Growing up, my parents owned 5 6-plex apartment buildings.  My Dad had built them and we lived in one of them and they did all the landlord/maintenance work themselves.  This included cleaning and painting empty apartments as old tenants moved out and new ones moved in.

The Casa-Linda Apartments on Willow Rd in Guelph, thanks to Google St. view.

As landlords, my parents have hundreds of stories of deadbeat tenants and just as many horror stories of the mess tenants left behind.  There was the vengeful tenant that they evicted for non payment who dumped a carton of milk in the fridge, unplugged it and shut the door so that it was a sour mess by the time they got in to clean.  Angry people who smeared baby poop from diapers in every electrical outlet, and some who's level of day to day filth was just so horrible that I wasn't even allowed in the apartment while they cleaned.

As a kid, I hated that we had to look after the apartments.  It meant putting out smelly garbage for everyone once a week.  It meant picking up litter from the lawn since the apartments were between a corner store and a bus stop. It meant sitting around in empty apartments while my parents cleaned them.  The only up side to that was that often the tenants cable hadn't been shut off yet, and my Mom would set me up with a lawn chair and a portable TV so that I could watch Saturday morning cartoons.  We didn't have cable, so this was a real treat. I did have one job to do anytime my father had to paint an apartment.  I had a bucket and my own screwdriver and I had go around and remove all the plug and light switch covers for him.

As a teenager and young adult I vowed to never be a landlord.  Who wanted the headaches, the dirt, the middle of the night phone calls from drunks who had locked themselves out?  Karma is such that I ended up being a landlord anyway.  Our current house has a basement apartment that we rent out.  It's only 1 unit, and we are 2 for 3 for having had good tenants.  The latest ones have moved out, and unfortunately they fall in the group of "level of day to day filth" that is going to require some major cleaning and painting before we rent it out again.

In preparation of painting, I am passing along a tradition.

I wonder if one he will be a landlord too?

Happy Hallowe'en

from my favorite Ghostbuster*!

Very proud of his homemade PKE meter

Channeling his inner-Egon!

another attempt at a Ghostbuster pumpkin.

*and yes, this is the same costume he wore 2 years ago!

Daring Kitchen - Pierogi

Blog Checking Lines: In a "celebration" of past Daring Cooks and Daring Bakers challenges, Lisa challenged all of us to search through the Daring Kitchen archives and pick any one we'd like! The REAL challenge was picking which delicious recipe(s) to try!

I went through the all the old posts and figured out there 132 recipes to choose from and that I had already participated in 24.  Since Mom is here visiting we sat her down in front of the list and let her choose the recipe.  She decided on Pierogies.

 After researching a variety of recipes I cobbled together the filling on my own.  We had some cauliflower in the fridge, so I roasted it and mashed it in with potatoes, cheddar cheese and bacon.  It made for a very creamy and delicious filling.  The recipe I found for the dough had a cup of mashed potatoes in it and made for a very delicate and tasty dough.

We even put Mom to work helping to fill the pierogies.

We like our pierogies fried up with onion, mushrooms, celery and bacon.  Some people boil their pierogies first, but we skip that step and add them straight to the frying pan.

And a dollop of sour cream makes everything tastier.

Fall

 

What better way to enjoy a beautiful Fall day then to spend it in a corn maze with your family?

He's wearing glasses!

We've struggled over the years with the photographer that the Liam's school uses for their photos.  He doesn't seem to be able to photograph someone wearing glasses without huge amounts of glare.  His solution last year was to have Liam take his glasses off.  To us, it didn't really look like Liam, since he has worn glasses since he was 5 years old.

We were intrigued to see what would happen this year.  Liam came home with 2 proofs today.  One, of course, has a glare in it.  The other one doesn't!

Of course, I like the look on his face better on the one with the glare, but I'm still happy with the other proof.