Insights & Information

Kindness in a kit

Doulos class members sort toiletries for Salvation Army kits

Men and women trying to rebuild lives shattered by crime are getting a very practical reminder of God’s love from one Sunday School community at Triad Baptist Church.

Residents of The Salvation Army’s Center of Hope in Winston-Salem are enjoying toiletry kits prepared by the Doulos class.

In little over a month, class members collected enough toothbrushes, toothpaste, shaving cream, deodorant, feminine hygiene and other items to allow the nonprofit to provide welcome kits to nearly every resident that will enter its Center of Hope residential re-entry program from prison over the next year.

“We could not effectively care for the broken in our community without the compassionate hearts of our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus,” says Abigail Linville, volunteer and resource coordinator for The Salvation Army in Winston-Salem.

“We’ll be distributing the items throughout the year to men and women in the program which we host with the Federal Bureau of Prisons,” she says. “Men and women completing roughly the last six months of their term come to us for re-entry preparation. Many arrive with just a few articles of clothing and minimal hygiene items. So the items from Triad give our residents badly needed care products they wouldn’t have otherwise and that we often take for granted.”

Doulos class members line up toiletries for Salvation Army kits

Linville says it’s the kind of practical support that demonstrates the biblical truths taught in Matthew 25:35-36 — a verse at the heart of The Salvation Army’s mission: “For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you took care of Me; I was in prison and you visited Me.

About 90 men and 50 women complete the re-entry program each year.

The latest Doulos service project grew out of a discussion Doulos leader Jason Johnson had when he met Linville last Christmas.

“I learned about the residential re-entry program while volunteering at the Salvation Army’s Christmas ministry, and asked Abigail about opportunities our class might plug into,” Johnson says. “She started telling me about the re-entry program and how they need toiletry kits for the participants. It kept coming back to me that we call our class Doulos, which means servant. If we’re really going to live that out, then we must be servants to everyone, and that includes those who’ve been in prison.”

Packed box of toiletries ready for Salvation Army

Before their annual picnic on Triad’s athletic field and after a recent class, Doulos members assembled and boxed the collections which Johnson delivered. The total included more than 200 bars of soap, 140 bottles of shampoo and 140 toothbrushes and tubes of toothpaste alone.

“We had great participation and many members made it a family activity and teaching opportunity for their children,” Johnson says. “There are so many ways to show Christ’s love in a practical way so I’d encourage any class wanting to start their own service tradition to just pick a project and dive right in.”

Linville says she enjoyed working with Doulos and hopes to do so again.

“Thanks to everyone at Triad who participated for your compassion for those in need,” Linville says. “Thank you for being the heart, hands, and feet of Messiah Jesus.”

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