good morning, this is "news 4 your sunday." >> hello, i'm pat lawson muse. theal vags salvation army national capital serves anyone in crisis, whether it is help with paying a bill or a hot meal or a long-term issue, every county in the region has a salvation army corps or field office that stands ready to help. today, what the organization is doing right now to help thousands here in the washington area. joining us are major james hall, who is area commander for the salvation army national capital area command and lesley woolly is program services director. thank you for joining us today. >> great. >> thank you. >> all of the past week nbc

has been getting people ready for winter. one of your annual programs helps to -- helps people through the brutal months of the winter, the washington area fuel fund, and you do it through a partnership with washington gas and pepco. >> that's true. >> tell us how this program works since you are about to have to use it and how the process goes. >> okay. this is a great time of year because wintertime is not only when we pull out all of the stops concerning our fundraising but also when there's a larger amount of people that need help. our washington area fuel fund, started by washington gas, and just recently pepco has joined together, we have made probably over the time period that this has been in operation $25 million has been given to this fund, and every penny has been able to be spent on helping people with utilities for heating their homes during christmas. >> so who can apply and what's the process for getting assistance? >> so ourse

in 12 different area locations, so if you go to our website you can just check which area you live in and get the address for the office. you go and meet with one of our social workers and they determine your eligibility. they will call in a pledge to your utility provider and say the salvation army is going to pledge this amount for this customer, and then they can go on their way knowing that their heat has been either restored or prevented from being cut off. >> how badly do harsh winters and those big storms like the blizzard of 2016 hurt you? >> it hurts our families that we are assisting. when we have a very cold winter, what happens is the program runs between january and we like to say mid may, but in a very cold year the heating bills are higher, more people are coming in, more people are in need, and then the funding runs out earlier. >> one of the other winter programs that you

popular, is share-the-warmth, the coat drive which nbc 4 partners with you on. what is new with that? how is it going? >> share the warmth, of course being able to collect coats from around the area, we have partnerships and we depend upon those greatly. bergman cleaners takes in the coats and prepares them so we can distribute them. one of the changes is we have combined it with one of our other programs so it makes it easier for people to receive the coats so they don't have to go to two events, it is with our feast of sharing where we have beige meaa big meal, and people there have been able to pick up coats. we've been able to move in that direction. lesley has been with us for a long time and she has over seen the growth of that program. this year how many coats do we plan to get? >> over 3,000. depends on how many come in, how many are in great condition, and we'll send them

programs, but also we will send them out to our offices in the area so that as folks are coming in for utility assistance, if their child also needs a winter coat we will have some available and be able to send them out that way. >> and the utility assistance is part of your emergency assistance program. >> absolutely. the salvation army, the backbone of its programming is what we call our emergency assistance programs. so that's rent, mortgage, utility assistance, a bag from our food pantry, a voucher to go to one of our thrift stores for furniture or clothing. truly those emergency basic needs. >> you even do transportation. >> we have. we certainly have. we sent out smart trip cards and bus tokens, and we've done all of that. >> yeah. you mentioned the feast of sharing, and we're going to take a break and talk about that. >> great. >> that actually comes before the rest of the holidays. >> yes. >> and it is coming up really soon, just before thanksgiving. talking with the salvation army this morng

wonderful programs they have for folks here in the washington area. be back in just a minute. ♪

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with thanksgiving a little less than two weeks away now, the salvation army is getting ready for the feast of sharing, which happens the day before thanksgiving. >> that's correct. >> tell us what you have planned. >> oh, it is a fantastic event. we have been in partnership with safeway for at least ten years now, and the salvation army is responsible for recruiting and managing all of the volunteers that will go in there to prepare the food and serve the food to about 5,000 people. they'll come in, they'll have lunch. they will be able to go to a community health fair, learn about other service providers. there's a clothing giveaway, and it is all at the washington convention center. it is a fantastic event. >> it really -- and it is a big event involving a lot of

who might not otherwise have thanksgiving. >> absolutely. you have folks that drop in. different years safeway has had shuttle buses to get people to the convention center because they want to make sure it is accessible to anyone who is in need. >> yes, we have covered it in recent years, in past years, and it is a wonderful time. >> see, the success of it is not just the ability to be able to feed people. i think the bigger success is seeing a community come together, and people coming together from the different partnerships that we have, the different organizations and churches that come together to provide not only food but volunteering. it is the community at its best, and that's one little microcosm of seeing how we can do things together in a good way. >> let's talk about the red kettles, you're famous and fabulous red kettles. you have had difficulty in recent years raising funds with these. >> yes. >> what's the outlook for this year? >> we set a goal every year, of course, and the money we

assistance but anything we do all year around. the challenge is we're moving to a society that doesn't carry money around all the time. so it is not like it used to be, but we still rely upon that impulse of people being able to put money in the kettle when they walk by it. i think the strength of our kettle program is that it reminds people of the need that is out there. we have a lot of volunteer groups. oh, my goodness, many, many volunteer groups that go out and help us. some people don't know this, but we do also pay some people to be out there, but i call it putting pride in their back pocket. these are people that may come in, they want assistance, but we say, we have an opportunity for you to earn your own money, be self-sufficient. so we put them to work on the kettles and they are able to raise money for us, which then gives them pride in being able to do something and they get a paycheck to help themselves during christmas time. >> last year ezekiel elliott of the dallas cowboys -- >>

>> -- heed ylped it out a lot. after their game with tampa, he jumped into a kettle and your donations took a big jump. >> let me say this, it was an impulse on his part, but the impulse that he took -- >> what a great one. >> yes. >> it increased the donations we received not only directly into the pot, but spawned a nationwide opportunity. they had people at the kettle so people could take a picture like they were with ezekiel elliott at the pot. >> we need to get one of the sports figures here in the washington area to do that for you. >> put as many in the pot as possible, that's great. >> of course, every year there's angel tree, which puts huge holiday smiles on the faces of local children, and every year nbc 4 employees sponsor children. i think we're sponsoring about 100 or so this year. talk about that proam

kids have gotten the gifts, and i tell you there just isn't a better, more heartwarming moment than when they get those sacks or those bags, those presents. >> we call them the family bags. so we have registered over 12,000 children throughout the metropolitan area this year, and we have about 3,000 children that still need to be sponsored. nbc has been a strong partner of angel tree for as long as i can remember, and has steadily increased their adoption of the angels, as we call them, and it is designed for low income families and families that are really living paycheck-to-paycheck. it allows the parents to be able to have gifts to give their children christmas morning. we send them out to the sponsors and we say, this is a wish list that the parent has said, you know, my child really likes spiderman or needs a

and then donors are free to use that guidance when they select their toys. but we all have such a great time. >> so how do families sign up to get a bag? >> families, our primary way of marketing is through our website. we have all of the information for each local office, the dates that they're doing registration. so if you live in the city of alexandria, you will go to your local alexandria salvation army office. we have closed registration, but our families, we send flyers out to schools, health centers, family shelters. unfortunately, we get a lot of our families through the different homeless services system, and they will come to our office and sign up. >> is it already too late for this year? >> it has already closed. >> closed, okay. >> but families know that in the salvation army we still christmas in september,

but throughout september and october we will be registering families. if there's a family that's had an emergency, you know, right into december, we also have a way that we can do those folks and provide them with gifts right then and there. >> good to know. got to take a break and we'll give you a chance to throw in there another comment or two. >> okay, good. >> when we come back. stay with us. ♪ any size soft drink for just one dollar at mcdonald's? with the days getting shorter and your to-do list getting longer, you'll enjoy this ice-cold deliciousness more than ever. hurry over to mcdonald's. ♪

t...two for five deals all across the board! here it comes... (crowd cheers) a big mac and 10 piece mcnuggets! they got em! get your fan favorites on the mcpick 2 menu. choose any two for just five bucks. they did it! unbelievable! ♪ let me get a mcpick 2 we're continuing our talk with the salvation army. major hall, you wanted to add one more point about angel tree. >> it has to do with the fact timing is everything. we have to start our signing up process earlier because then we have an opportunity to put it in the public and allow people to adopt angels, which if people want to you can go to our website and adopt an angel from our website. they have to adopt the angels and turn the angels in so they will be ready for distribution prior to christmas. there's a timing aspect, that's why we have to

>> sure. there are so many needs in our community as you all know, and one of the pressing needs right now is to get a handle on drug addiction. >> right. >> you have a program called "harbor lights" or it is the harbor lights center. tell us about that program. >> well, the salvation army has always been interested in helping people at the point of need. our harbor lights center program is a clinical program where people can come and receive clinical assist answer. we have different periods of time as far as the treatment center process, but a 28-day program is the minimum where people can come in and they get counseling and all sorts of services. we also have our rehabilitation center program which is more of a -- it is a faith-based program where we have two of those centers in the area, and they really do take -- that's a six-month program, much longer and it is work therapy based. but these are focused on helping people with barrier, and that barrier is drug or alcohol addiction. e

to being able to be self-sufficient. >> lesley, one of your newer programs is pathway of hope, which major hall characterizes as an umbrella approach to dealing with the city's housing issues. >> it is really designed to help families break the cycle of ent intergenerational poverty. it is taking our assistance where we're helping prevent eviction or preventing the heat being cut off and taking a deeper approach with them. saying, you've come in today so we can help you with your rent so you can stay housed, but let's look at a longer-term program that we can work with you over time so that you don't necessarily need to come back here, that you'll be able to achieve greater

self-sufficiency. >> the idea is to get them self-sufficient and out of the cycle. >> the idea is to put ourselves out of business, that's what we want to do. >> that's a noble goal. the turning point center for women and children is also a big part of what you're doing. >> i love this program because it is focused -- we have many partnerships and there are many organizations and agencies that help, but in this area of homelessness, but this is focus for young mothers with children, those young mothers who do not have the skills or support system to be able to provide them what they need to be able to make it to the next level, and that's why -- lesley can talk more about this. she has been around, she was there at the inception of some of the program changing in turning point, but it is a direct need and a direct response. we see so many more positive things happen because of the focused attention on these young mother's. >> again, it is like pathway of hope, that it is really designed to be a two-generation solution.

between the ages of 18 to 24 -- and our average age for our moms is about 20. if you can get them early, and this is usually the first time they've ever lived truly independently, and if you can get them early and stabilized and moving toward greater self-sufficiency, then their children don't need to know what it's been like not to have a home. >> ah, that's so important, isn't it? >> absolutely. the studies all show that if you've been homeless as a child, you have a far greater likelihood of living in poverty as an adult, of being incarcerated, of being homeless yourself. so if we can get them early and get that intervention in there, that really helps the children as well. >> how many are you able to accommodate? >> 27 families. 27 families. so they live in their own apartments, so they're responsible for, you know, getting them -- their children to school each day and getting themselves to work or school themselves, you know, making

apartments clean and really learning how to live independently. but with the salvation army as a support system alongside them. >> and then they go on. >> they do. >> and a lot of them make it and don't wind upcoming back. >> correct. so the majority of them, about 75%, will exit to a permanent housing situation. for some that might be a roommate situation. we've had women that have become friends in the program together, realize that they aren't quite making enough income to live and pay the rent on their own, but if they're friends and they go in together -- i mean so many of us have lived in group housing when we first got to the city. >> sure. >> we've -- recently we have two families that are enrolled in home buying programs. we've had multiple move out into their own units. >> wonderful progress. >> it is. there's two major factors, and you need to go to a break, don't you? >> yes. you can tell us

come back. >> all right. >> stay with us. be right back. ♪ don't miss this chance to create your perfect home now at havertys furniture. save one hundred dollars off every thousand through monday.

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talking with the salvation army major hall. you wanted to make two additional points? >> just real quick. two major successes from this turning point program. one is the fact that all of these ladies, i think a big success is the tools that they receive. once then come, when they leave they're at least given a set of tools to be able to navigate life. the second thing is the partnerships we form in the community. we can't do it alone and partners like our women's auxiliary and other partners help out and make it happen by doing parties and supporting us financially, but making things go well because of a partnership of a community coming together. >> great patrol also. you have done this for a number of years and you do it with a network of churches and other organizations. >> exactly. urban legend even within the salvation army t

started in the mid 1980s from a woman leaving our offices to go to the metro and would see typically men gathered around the heating greats coming up from the streets, which is how the name of the program began. she started bringing out food to them, sort of as she had it, and then it grew into getting a vehicle and getting the night sponsored. it goes out 365 nights a year. we have seven different stops in the downtown d.c. area. we serve the evening meal, and in 2001 we added a component, again, to extend the services from just a meal but also now we have a case manager. he goes out and he meets with folks, takes them to a starbuck's or a mcdonald's and sits down with them and says, what can we do to help, how can we get you into housing, how can we get your diabetes treated, a mental health referral. so it is a deeper connection to plug the

need to bring stability and ultimately, hopefully, housing. >> you're going beyond the grates. >> absolutely. >> the country has been hit hard by hurricanes, and i know you have done a lot of work and provided a lot of assistance here in the washington area. >> that's correct. we put on a drive, and locally i'm very produced to say that the citizens came together and went toward a national -- everything that's raised here goes toward the national effort. so $1.5 million was raised just from the people here. not only did we send money, and 100% of the donations went toward the disaster effort, but we also deployed people. these are trained disaster response teams that went to not only texas and florida, but we've also had some that have gone to puerto rico to help out. some have just come back. they're still involved in those emergency assistance plans. >> i assumed so because the -- the efforts there

and you've got the virgin islands, which is still, you know, pretty hard-hit and of course puerto rico where many people still don't have electricity. >> well, what we try to do is move from the emergency response to moving toward being able to work with them for the fuse. that goes into the housing and providing some support systems there. so it is a challenge in puerto rico because it is so isolated. our other places, national responses happened and the army has been able to be deployed from all over -- from all 50 states to help out in these different areas. >> major james hall and lesley wooley. thank you for sharing with us your great work with the washington area. >> thanks for letting us tell the story. >> you can lob log on to nbcwashington.com and search community. i'm pat lawson muse. thank you for being with us. ♪

we are told police and family are concerned of her physical welfare, if you know where she is, call police. it is 6:00 on the dot this is sunday morning, i want to thank you so much waking up with us. we are all going to have an extra cup of coffee though. >> good morning everyone, i am in for angie