A homeless woman gives thanks. ‘I’d be dead,’ without the Salvation Army

“Send these, the homeless, tempest-lost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

That is how Emma Lazarus’ poem, “The New Colossus,” concludes on the Statue of Liberty. And they are words the Salvation Army embraces in its mission to serve the area’s needy on a daily basis.

That includes Thanksgiving, for there are no days off for those in need and no days off for those who care for them.

“That’s something that sometimes people don’t understand,” said Bradenton’s Salvation Army Maj. Juan Guadalupe. “We’re open the whole year. We never close. We never shut down our shelters.”

And without the Salvation Army, “I’d be dead,” said Huyen-Vi Nguyen, who has been homeless off and on since the 1980s.

“I’d be in prostitution or a drug house. The Salvation Army is my immediate family. Someone that will listen to what I say more so than the family who kicked me out.”

Nguyen is working her way through Salvation Army programming and is inching ever closer to owning a mobile home of her own. There are strict rules to complete the program, but it’s those rules “that keep me in line so I can finish out the program,” she said.

Nguyen chronicled her journey on the streets of Bradenton at Thursday’s free Thanksgiving dinner the agency served to hundreds of men, women and children in need. She is still homeless and still struggling, but thankful she has a safe place to be.

Life on the streets “is rough,” she said.

Nguyen travels around town on her bicycle, everything she owns hanging from the bike in plastic bags. She’s been robbed multiple times.

“They don’t care what it is, all they see is that they can go after the possessions,” Nguyen said. “Whatever I have, they can basically take everything. They act like you own them something and forgot to pay them, you know. They take everything and it kind of takes a breath out of you when it happens.”

Trust on the streets is hard to come by, especially as a homeless woman. Nguyen said it’s reached the point where she’s afraid when someone offers her help “because they can sit down with you for a meal, walk with you and you’ll just disappear one day.

“The Salvation Army took me in and even if it was just for one night off the streets, it makes all the difference.”

Thursday’s meal had to be done a little different this year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Just because there is a contagious disease spreading through communities, the need not only stops, it has grown exponentially.

“The community has been great to us,” Guadalupe said. “People have bringing in donations of masks and hand sanitizers to keep us going as safely as possible and, of course the monetary donations help us continue doing the mission. This year has been a little different. We usually go inside the facility for the meals and serve and people sit down and have a great time, but this year we’re bringing it outside.”

Every person who needed a Thanksgiving meal got turkey and all the fixings, but in to-go boxes this year to keep everyone safe and socially distanced.

It wasn’t as cozy as past Thanksgivings but “we’re excited because we still have the opportunity to do so,” Guadalupe said. “And we have our volunteers here to help us and serve, but this year has been, well, special, let’s put it that way.”

Newly elected Holmes Beach Commissioner Jayne Christenson was among the volunteers. She was just sworn into office on Monday in her first political bid and has made volunteering an annual tradition for her family.

“This will be our second Thanksgiving and Christmas volunteering here,” Christenson said. “We come out this time of year because it’s the time the Salvation Army allows kids to volunteer. We have a 16-year-old son and he’s back serving the beans up in the kitchen. It’s a great experience for him. He doesn’t always realize how blessed our family is, so this is good for him.”

How to help

Thanksgiving is just the start of the holiday season. The Salvation Army Christmas programs have begun and the need is greater than ever in Manatee County.

To learn how you can help, call 941-748-5110 or visit them online at salvationarmyflorida.org/manatee-county/.

This story was originally published November 26, 2020 at 1:49 PM.