Three of my friends and I were invited to tour the new
Salvation Army facility and have lunch there. It was a
unique, enlightening and a lovely experience.

Several of the wealthier people in Oklahoma city had paid
for the facility. It was new and clean and had a lot of
windows to let the sun in. It consisted of family quarters
with a playground, a men's dormitory, a kitchen and lunch
room, a chapel and offices.

The most impressive thing to me was the fact that 84 cents
of every dollar donated goes to helping people in a very
practical way. Their mission is religious but they don't
force it on their clients. If they don't want the Gospel,
they get love and help anyway. Love and respect for the
down and out are the operative words here.

Lunch was delicious. We had a good salad, chicken pot pie
and chocolate chip cookies. The same meal that the residents are served.

While we ate, we chatted with a minister who volunteers
there about the charities who abuse their mission by
paying huge administrative costs and perks for their
employees. Of course, it is all about ego getting in the
way of actual helping. No one who has ever seen a
Salvation Army uniform could ever accuse them of being
flamboyant.