Programs and Services

Family Services

Social Services: We are committed to meeting the physical, spiritual, and emotional needs of families as well as individuals who are in crisis or 'at risk.' Our goal is to provide longer-term solutions that are so desperately needed by our clients rather than just the quick fixes of food, rental, utility, or prescription assistance. We therefore offer comprehensive case management and referral services that address root problems along with budget, lifestyle, and crisis counseling to all clients coming to our door for help.

Case Management Services: We offer our clients case management services with the possibility of social service grants for such things as rent, utilities, insurance, repairs, transportation, prescriptions, and other necessities of living.

Biblical Counsel and Prayer: We offer our clients words of compassion, words of encouragement, words of wisdom, and words of hope - not only for their present situation, but for their future and for all eternity. This is what makes us different from other social service agencies.

Holiday Meals: Each Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Easter, we provide the community with a free holiday meal. Before each meal, we offer a worship service to the community. The meal is made and served by volunteers. We depend on donations for the foodand supplies.

Christmas Food and Gift Distribution: We provide needy area families with food and gifts for their children each Christmas season. This outreach increases each and every year. The community donates all the food and gifts.

Women's Fellowship Tuesdays: Each Tuesday morning we offer a place for women to gather for learning, service, and fellowship.

Food Pantry & Community Meal: Every Friday morning, we open our doors for clients to fill a grocery bag full of bread, pastry, baked food, food bank staples, and other donated items. On the third Friday of the month we have donated clothing for the clients to chose. Lunch is served each Friday from 11 AM - 1 PM to those that need a good meal or don't want to eat alone, need a friend, or enjoy "playing" in The dmZ.

Biblical Counseling

Biblical counseling ministers to a person's life dominating and controlling problems as well as lays the foundation that best prepares them for the future. By offering biblical counseling, counselees discover the Lord's solution to what their 'real' problems are. Without this Christ-centered counseling, our outreach would simply be ministering to the body and not to the soul. Special emphasis is placed on a counselee's personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and their subsequent growth into a mature relationship with Him.

Emergency Disaster Canteen

In 1958 a Salvation Army service unit was born in Boyertown to help meet the needs of the community. The mobile emergency disaster canteen has been the major outreach of the Salvation Army for many of its years. The canteen provides food and beverages to victims and relief workers involved in a crisis situations. Volunteers could be called at any time of the day or night, and must respond quickly. The canteen and chase car is sent to the scene of an accident, fire, or disaster and stays as long as required.

A Chaplain accompanies the canteen to the site of each disaster or emergency to render crisis, trauma, grief and pastoral counseling to both the victims and the emergency service personnel as needed. Each Chaplain is equipped to provide emergency assistance such as shelter, food, and clothing to those in need.

Student Programs

www.the-dmz.net

The dmZ Teen Center (stands for "demilitarized zone"): has been providing after school and summer refuge for teens since June 2001. Here they can find fun, recreation, tutoring, mentoring, and encouragement, while socializing in a safe, comfortable, exciting, Christian environment.

The dmZ is outfitted with pool tables, PS2's, on-line computers, a large screen TV, Guitar Hero &Dance Dance Revolution on Big Screens, air-hockey, bubble hockey, and a quality sound system for the teens enjoyment, the dmZ has plenty to keep our teens busy - all at no cost to them.

All activities are under the watchful eye of staff and volunteers of The Salvation Army who are trained and supervised by the Student Ministries Director. All staff and volunteers must have current Child Abuse clearances.

The dmZ is open Monday - Friday to teens in 7th - 12th grades. After School hours are 3 - 6 PM on school days and 11 AM - 5 PM on holidays and when school is closed. Summer hours are 1 PM - 6 PM.

Summer Camping: Weeklong camping for children ages 7 - 12 and youth 13 - 18. Each year, we send 20 - 30 children and youth from The dmZ to our camping program at The Salvation Army's Camp Ladore, located northeast of Scranton, PA. This camping program utilizes natural surroundings to meet the physical, mental, and spiritual needs of the campers. The Salvation Army of Boyertown subsidizes many of the campers. We continue to increase our slots each and every year, thereby allowing more students to have a camping experience.

Back-To-School: We provide area needy children backpacks filled with school supplies so that they can begin school with the same items as their peers. Each August, we invite both children and parents to a program and party before we hand out the backpacks.

dmZ Jr.: for children in Kindergarten through 6th grade, is opened every Wednesday evening from 6 - 8PM during the school year. Dinner is served at 6 PM. Children have opportunity to play games, do crafts, learn Bible stories, and play in The dmZ.

dmZ Jr. Bootcamp: for children Kindergarten through 6th grade, is open every Friday from 6-8PM during the school year. This is an extension of the dmZ Jr. program to help tie in the community kids to The Salvation Army church. Dinner is served at 6PM. Children have the opportunity to learn more about The Salvation Army and the Bible.

Mobile VBS: We take Club dmZ Jr. into some of the 11 communities neighborhoods that we serve. We bring games, prizes, mime, puppetry, Bible stories, and snacks all geared toward Bible teaching and evangelism. Our mobile canteen will serve dinner when available.

The Clothing Bin

Donated items which are not needed to minister to the needs of those we serve, are picked up by The Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center (ARC) in Philadelphia on a weekly basis. The men and women who attend the ARC work in the retail stores as part of the rehabilitation program. Items are sold and vouchered, with all earned income going back into the drug and alcohol program. When appropriate, The Boyertown Salvation Army can send individuals in need of the ARC programming.