The Salvation Army ready to serve Mansfield's homeless again this winter

The winter temperatures arrive soon. The Salvation Army in Mansfield is ready to warm the area’s homeless for the second consecutive year.

Meet your neighbor — Major Robert Bender of The Salvation Army.

“My wife and I are both fully ordained ministers,” said Maj. Bender. “I wasn’t called until I actually met my wife. Both of our parents were officers in the Salvation Army. My dad always told me, ‘It’s the last thing you’ll ever want to do;’ meaning it’s not a career, it’s not a job. It’s a calling. So, you've got to make sure.”

He says Major Karen Bender, his wife, felt the pull early on.

“My wife was called at a young age; took me a little while," he said. "I had to sew some oats before we met, if you know what I mean. I just felt compelled; that there was more I could do than what I was doing.”

Robert Bender say his personal misdirection led to ministry.

“I played baseball, lived in a Cadillac for two years,” he said. “I traveled all over the country; well, everything east of the Mississippi; got in a little bit of trouble just trying to play ball and realized that ahh, that wasn’t going to happen; now what?”

He says God directed his path after baseball.

“I applied at a Salvation Army camp, knowing that I would get fired if I did the things that I was doing," Bender recalled. "I lied on the application; the officer accepted me and it changed my life, to be honest with you. And, that’s where my wife was working the first year I met her, so it all worked. It was weird, but I mean, God had a plan.”

“My motivation is because of the change," he added. "Now this is the preacher in me. The change that when I accepted the Lord as my Savior, that’s when the change happened in my life. (And) to want others to follow because it made such an incredible change in me personally. Because quite frankly, I wouldn't be here if it weren’t for that transformation that the Lord brought on my life.”

39 years of marriage, 5 kids, 9 grandkids

“You know, I don’t beat anybody over the head with it, but that’s my experience,” clarified Bender. “I want others to know that, even the hardest of times, there’s still a joy in my heart because I know I’m taken care of with the Lord. And that’s what I want to portray to other people who come in here; people in the warming center, the kids downstairs, the parents that come in — just, you know, everybody. That’s my motivation.”

His marriage has produced abundant blessings, he said.

“This past June was 39 years,” Maj. Bender said. “Five kids, nine grandkids. And hopefully we hit the double digits, but we’ll see.”

Since 1989, the Benders have been officers in The Salvation Army.

“We’ve been here for 2½ years. We’ve been lucky. We’ve had long stays," Bender explained. "Our first appointment was Meadville, Pennsylvania, for six years. We moved then to McKeesport, Pennsylvania, 7½ years. And from there we moved to Mount Vernon, Ohio, for 10 years. And then up to Painesville, Ohio, for seven years. And I must’ve said something wrong to that leadership and they moved me to Massena, New York, for two years. That was an experience.”

Before he committed to the two-year training in 1987, Bender took his wife out to eat.

“Here’s how it happened, before I said yes. We sat down to a meal, my wife and I, because she was already called to be a Salvation Army officer. I had steak, and I told her as I was eating this steak, by the time I have my dessert, I’ll tell you. So I had a strawberry pie for dessert and I said, ‘I believe we can go into the Training School.’ That was it. The rest has been history,” he said, chuckling.

The restaurant was in Massachusetts.

“I was gym director at a Salvation Army. We were there, I think, for a year or two years," said Bender. "We just went out to eat, I can’t remember the restaurant; it was like an Applebees or some place like that. We were in Springfield and she had been called; actually, I think she was called before she was born. But, for others, it takes awhile.”

Both sets of parents were officers in The Salvation Army.

“They were in leadership positions or administrative positions, so we have an ongoing battle," said Bender. "My parents were always at the local level. Her parents were always at the administration level, so we come from different thought processes.”

Mansfield is the place God has called them

“This is where the rubber meets the road for The Salvation Army, at the local level," he stated. "The Army has been here in Mansfield at this property, or near this property, for over 100 years.”

The Salvation Army has its spiritual tradition as Wesleyan Methodist. Maj. Bender draws upon his past to warm Mansfield’s homeless population.

“It was a no brainer for me; we have this beautiful building. I had done warming centers and actually ran shelters, way in the past,” he said. “It was precipitated by getting a call from Peggy Powers at Addy’s Attic; they lost their place for a warming center a year before. I didn’t hesitate. We need to be doing that kind of stuff; that’s what we’re here for.”

Finding volunteers is a critical need.

“The only problem for me was, it was the time of year where I couldn’t get volunteers; I couldn't do any of that kind of work because it’s our busiest time of the year — November and December," Bender said.

The winter streets of Mansfield can be tough. The warming center at The Salvation Army has strict guidelines to keep people safe and warm this year. The rules from last year remain the same.

“I had certain criteria. We would open when the temperatures hit 20 degrees or below and they could stay as long as the temperature was below 20 degrees” said Maj. Bender. “They would have to be in by 9 o’clock in the evening.”

Guests must leave by 7 a.m. the next day.

“I tried to get them to have lights out by 10 o’clock; that didn’t always work, but I understood that. It wasn’t a big problem," he said. "Most of the gentlemen and even ladies that came in, I was already familiar with. We had a good group of people that didn’t cause too many problems."

Staff and volunteers can’t be certain of who will enter their doors though. There are also no police officers on duty.

“It’s important to have two or three people man overnight,” said Maj. Bender. “No police presence, although police were alerted that we were opening.”

One particular guest has been banned from the property.

“We had one incident. We would take people after hours if the authorities brought us, if another agency brought us or if they got out of jail,” said Bender. “That was the case one night. We opened up for somebody that had just got out of prison and that didn’t work out too well. But, we took care of it.”

Hospitality nurtures compassion in the cold months

“The biggest thing is it’s not rocket science,” Bender said. “It’s just being there for people. Opening up the building, getting the volunteers to man it, especially overnights. It could be one, two-hour shifts, four hours. We basically had a couple folks who volunteered the bulk of the time overnight; they were here many hours.”

The Salvation Army has deep gratitude for local citizens.

“The fact that if the community helps us put these buildings up, I think we have to, as much as we can, let the community use them,” said Maj. Bender.

Those interested in volunteering are encouraged to attend an informational meeting at 5 p.m. on Monday at The Salvation Army's Dewald Center, 47 S. Main St., Mansfield. They also can call The Salvation Army at 419-525-2912 or contact Peggy Powers at 419-564-9542.

Correspondent Joe Di Lullo can be reached at jp.dilullo0926@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Mansfield Salvation Army serves the homeless during the winter