The Carlton County branch of the Salvation Army has a brand, new leader.
Captain Ruth Gibbons took over the post on Wednesday, June 25, replacing former captains Tim and Jenn Gardner, who have moved on to an assignment in Nebraska.
Gibbons comes to Cloquet from Green Bay, Wis., where she served as the associate officer at the Salvation Army there for the past two years. Before that she served in Eau Claire for a year.
"I'm really excited about being here in Cloquet," commented Gibbons. "It's beautiful!"
Gibbons grew up in Flint, Mich., where she lived until she was in her 20s and old enough to go out on her own.
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She moved out West, married, and lived and worked in various locations before eventually moving back to the Midwest after her daughter, Sarah, was born in order to be closer to her family.
Though Gibbons was a fourth-generation Salvationist and had grown up in the Salvation Army, she had gotten away from it when she lived out West. She and her husband became involved in the church once again after returning to the Midwest.
"That's when I felt the Lord really wanted me to be a little bit more involved with it than I already was," Gibbons said.
It wasn't a direct path, however.
She and her husband divorced, and after a few years of working for the Army, she felt as though she needed to go into training to become an officer.
"I'm a little old to be an officer," she admitted. "Usually officers are a little bit younger, but a lot of people are now choosing officership almost as a second career. After working at one career for a number of years, they still feel like there's something missing in their lives, so they'll go back into training and become an officer. I think that's great. You have a lot more life experience at that point."
Gibbons went to training in Chicago (right next to Wrigley Field!) and became an officer in 2005.
She said she feels the Salvation Army in Cloquet has a lot of potential to grow, and one of her plans is to start up some programs for the youth - with the help of her 16-year-old daughter.
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"I think it will be an opportunity for her to show what she can do, too," said Gibbons.
She said she would love to boost involvement in the church as well, though admittedly the current road work on Carlton Avenue is discouraging to perspective attendees.
"With the road out here being what it is, we're having a little bit of a problem with folks not being able to find their way here," she said of both the church and the thrift store. "People need to realize that we are still vitally open and there's a lot of opportunity for service through volunteering."
She said the thrift store is struggling right now to fill in the gaps between moving the merchandise from the donation point to the sales floor.
"Unfortunately, when the store doesn't make very much money, we can't afford to employ very many people, so we need to tap into that volunteer mode where people are willing to help out if they have a couple of hours every week. It would go miles toward helping us out."
Gibbons said more and more the Salvation Army is getting requests for service, and unfortunately, some of those who used to give are no longer able to do so.
She added that though the food shelf is always in need of food, the need in recent months has increased.
"We had more people come in just today - 25 families - than we normally see in an entire week," she said.
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Finally, she talked of a vision for a new building to possibly include the church, thrift store and social services, since lack of space and high demand has put them in a space pinch.
"We would rather have them all together, but we don't have a lot of options right now," she admitted, "but you just never know - God's plans and God's budgets are unbelievable!"
