Photos courtesy of Carol Plichta The Hancock Salvation Army Bread of Life center acts as a community meeting center and provides emergency assistance for those in need.

I’m in the basement of The Salvation Army building in Hancock. I’m here because Pete Mackin, the director, needs help with The Angel Tree Program. Parents with limited income have registered their children for Christmas gifts from their community, and our job is to “shop” for each of these little angels!

The first decision I make is to haul all the toys upstairs. Not everyone is happy with this idea (there are a lot of stairs and toys), but I have a few people who agree with me, so I go with it. We need to see what toys we have, categorize them into age groups and make good decisions; the kind of decisions that Santa would make!

Toys are everywhere. Boxes and boxes of gifts lovingly given to the children from individuals, groups of individuals, church congregations, businesses, University departments, etc. This is truly a basement filled with love.

Christmas is over now, but I am still in the basement going through boxes. I find children’s program curricula, small gifts bought for the elderly as a reason for a “visit”, records of community dinners, trainings, worship services and so on. I even find the tambourines and the drum used in street teachings and parades. I am beginning to understand that The Salvation Army has been in this community for a long time.

The Salvation Army building at 408 Ravine Street is no longer a church but “Bread of Life Center” (check out the new sign) that offers emergency assistance for those most in need. They help with food (pantry open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m.-3 p.m.), transportation, utilities and other financial emergencies. They also help people navigate the social services system. The Salvation Army offices are open Monday through-Thurs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The facility consists of a chapel, gymnasium, commercial kitchen, classroom, offices, food pantry and an emergency disaster service staging area. In an emergency, the building can be used as an emergency shelter.

Currently, TSA’s facility is used by several groups, including the Keweenaw Global Methodist Church (worship service Sundays at 11 a.m.), AA open meeting (Thursdays at 7 p.m.), Better Together, formerly the Christian Women (2nd Thursday of each month, 9 a.m. to -11 a.m.) and Yooperleles, a community ukulele group (Tuesdays from 6-7:30 p.m.).

The hope is that in the future the facility will house veteran and mental health counseling services, and other community programs. There is great potential here for The Salvation Army to… “Meet human needs, in Jesus’ name, without discrimination,” which is the abbreviated version of the mission statement of TSA.

The Salvation Army is here to serve the Copper Country community (Keweenaw, Houghton, and Ontonagon counties). The best part of all this is that the donations come from you, the community, and they are used to help people here, in this community. Thank you for your past support of the Bread of Life Center. Please consider contributing to and/or volunteering with The Salvation Army, especially during the upcoming busy holiday season. Help is needed with:

• The Angel Tree Program (Early Registration for Family has already begun and continues until December 15). Angel tree host sites are needed.

• The Annual Kettle Campaign (Volunteer to ring between November 17 and December 23 at any of our bell ringing sites at Registertoring.com.

• EDS training and service (call Pete at 906-482-3420)

• Pantry Volunteer (contact the Bread of Life Center at 906-482-3420)