All 12 members on the board of directors for the local chapter of the Salvation Army resigned Tuesday and are calling for a boycott of the charity because they worry forthcoming changes may result in money collected locally not staying in the community.
On Tuesday, a Salvation Army representative from Denver came to Durango to announce that the local organization will shift from an entirely volunteer-led effort to a service center with an office staffed by a paid employee.
Leaders of the local chapter said the move will take away money from La Plata County residents in need by directing donations to cover operating costs associated with a staff person’s salary and office space.
Salvation Army officials, however, contend that adding a full-time employee will allow the nonprofit to provide more services to more people in need, and that money raised in the county will stay here.
“All these years, the money raised in La Plata County stayed here,” said resigned board member Sweetie Marbury, who is also mayor of Durango. “And now they’re going to take our money and do what they want.”
For years, the Salvation Army’s bell-ringing campaign over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season in La Plata County, where people ring the bells alongside red kettles outside local businesses, has been carried out entirely by volunteers.
The campaign raises an average of $100,000, Marbury said. That money is then distributed to local nonprofits, such as the La Plata County Boys & Girls Club, Housing Solutions for the Southwest and Manna soup kitchen, among others.
It is typical for Salvation Army chapters, as it is in La Plata County, for 90 percent of all donations received to stay in the community, with the other 10 percent going to regional offices, said Premerk Kramerius, a major divisional secretary for the Salvation Army’s Intermountain Division.
“I was pleased I could tell people that gave to Salvation Army that all the money stays here,” said Ken Leroy, a board member who resigned. “That hit a chord with people.”
About a year ago, Salvation Army staff in Denver visited Durango and told board members it was contemplating a change to the service center model, including adding a paid position.
The board strongly opposed the idea, saying it would divert money from people in need to pay for operating expenses, Marbury said. Denver staff left, and the board thought that was the end of it, she said.
The volunteer bell-ringing campaign over the 2017 holiday season went on as usual and raised about $100,000. But when the board met to discuss how the money would be doled out, the Salvation Army announced its plans.
“They swooped in and said we’re taking over,” Marbury said. “They’re going to take our money and do what they want to do, and that’s not right.”
Deb Duncan, another resigned board member, worries that local nonprofits that expected to receive money from the Salvation Army may not receive it this year.
“If they won’t honor the commitment we’ve made to the community and all these organizations we support with the money collected for that intent,” Duncan said, “all of us are going to be raising hell.”
In an interview Wednesday, Kramerius said the changes will allow the nonprofit to provide more services to more people. The nonprofit, which is an international organization, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian Church.
Having a full-time staff member will help create more campaigns to raise more money, Kramerius said, and having a center in Durango will allow the Salvation Army itself to offer services.
“I believe the changes are very positive,” he said. “Every dime will stay in La Plata County. If anything, we will expand and serve more people.”
Kramerius stopped short of promising the Salvation Army will honor the donations the volunteer group promised to local nonprofits, but he said the group hopes to find a solution.
To understand how this transition may play out, the town of Loveland offers an example.
For about two decades, volunteers spearheaded Salvation Army collections and distributed the money to nonprofits that served people in need in the community, said Loveland resident Dan Lucero.
But about three years ago, Salvation Army officials said it was changing to a service center model.
“We weren’t sure why there was a need to change that whole dynamic,” Lucero said. “And it was explained to us we were a growing community with more needs than existing agencies could provide, and the Salvation Army wanted to have a permanent office that they could provide direct service.”
The Salvation Army told Loveland volunteers that the transition would take about a year, and local nonprofits that depended on the money would still receive it but would also slowly be weaned off to give them time to adjust.
Over that holiday season, volunteers in Loveland raised around $80,000, but the Salvation Army went back on its word and didn’t donate the money to local groups. About 80 percent of the board resigned, Lucero said.
Lucero, who was chairman of the volunteer group at the time, decided to stay on in that position to see how the transition would play out.
Money is no longer given to local groups, Lucero said, because the Salvation Army prefers not to take money out of its own organization. Instead, Salvation Army directs donations to pay its own employee, a trained provider, and for its own set of services it provides.
Though Lucero laments not being able to help local nonprofits, he said the system in place now is better than before.
“As I look back, it was a slap in the face the way they treated us,” Lucero said. ”They didn’t honor the time and effort we put in. However, what we’ve created since is something good.”
Still, Lucero has concerns. While 90 percent of donations supposedly still stay in the community for services, he said the Salvation Army indicated some of that money will soon be used to help pay for salaries and office expenses.
“To me, that digs into money to provide services,” he said. “So to maintain the services you want to provide, you have to collect more money. And for our community, there’s a threshold on how much we can collect.”
Board members in La Plata County – which has a population of about 58,000 people – make the same argument.
“We’re a town with over 400 nonprofits already vying for limited dollars with a very generous donor base, but there’s a finite limit,” Leroy said.
The Salvation Army’s Kramerius maintained the organization is confident that it will be able to raise more money to increase services locally.
Regardless, the transition may affect local nonprofits.
Tami Miller, program director for Housing Solutions for the Southwest, said the Salvation Army is the biggest donor for its “Community Emergency Assistance Coalition” program, which provides money to residents in emergency situations.
More than 400 people applied in 2017 for funding for situations such as a broken-down car, evictions or child care expenses. Roughly half are awarded the money, Miller said.
“Hopefully, this situation works out,” she said.
Kramerius said the Salvation Army hopes to complete the transition in Durango by September.
But Marbury said she won’t be ringing bells this upcoming holiday season. And, she’s advocating to other residents to boycott donating to Salvation Army and instead choose local nonprofits.
“It’s so sad. But I’ll put my money and energy somewhere else,” she said.
jromeo@durangoherald.com
