Serving with Open Hands and Open Hearts
Every day, The Salvation Army's disaster response team is welcoming families at the Disaster Assistance Center (DAC) whose lives have been turned upside down by the Spokane fires. Some come seeking practical assistance like clothing vouchers, gift cards to replace essential items, guidance on what comes next, or help navigating insurance claims. But many arrive carrying something much heavier: grief, uncertainty, exhaustion, and the overwhelming weight of not knowing what tomorrow will bring.
While our disaster services team helps meet immediate physical needs, our spiritual care team is meeting another need that cannot be measured in dollars. They are offering compassionate listening, prayer when requested, and the reassurance that no one has to walk through this tragedy alone.
One grandfather arrived at the DAC after evacuating with multiple generations of his family. His daughter, son-in-law, and three grandchildren had been displaced. His adult son had also been forced from his home. Between them, the family was scattered across three temporary locations.
It had taken four hours to escape their neighborhood as the fires advanced. They were able to gather only a few necessities before leaving.
As he waited outside with his grandchildren while their parents sought assistance inside, his gratitude was unmistakable. "This kind of help is huge. it means so much, and we are so grateful for the work you are doing." he shared. As volunteers helped connect his family with resources, one of our spiritual care team members simply listened. Sometimes the greatest need isn't another form to complete. Sometimes it is someone willing to hear your story.
Even amid the uncertainty, it was the simplest things that mattered most. His wife, he said, only wanted a pillow, a towel, and clean clothes. Nearby, one of his granddaughters quietly reflected on what she hoped for most. Both her family and her grandparents had swimming pools, and she simply wanted to swim there again someday. Then, with wisdom far beyond her years, she added that if their homes were still standing, "it would be a miracle."
Children often hear more than adults realize. They absorb the fear, the uncertainty, and the hope spoken around them.
Moments like these remind our team that disasters affect every member of a family in deeply personal ways.
Another conversation revealed a different kind of loss. A husband and wife, caring for their four grandchildren when they were forced to evacuate, had learned they had lost everything. As they struggled to process what had happened, the wife shared that all she wanted was the chance to search through the ashes for her grandparents' wedding rings…a small piece of family history she hoped might somehow survive.
Not everyone impacted by the fires has been emotionally ready to walk through the doors of the Disaster Assistance Center. Our spiritual care team met two women from a local PTO who had come carrying paperwork for three families who had lost everything. The families themselves were simply too overwhelmed to come. Their friends came instead, gathering information, connecting them with resources, and standing in the gap until they were ready.
For our team, it was a reminder that hope often arrives through ordinary people willing to carry someone else's burden.
Disaster also brings emotions that often arrive all at once.
One elderly woman shared with our team how deeply saddened she was for her neighbors who had lost everything. Moments later, she admitted she was angry and didn't know how to reconcile the conflicting emotions she was experiencing. Captain Kyna Kelly gently reminded her, "You can do all of those things, feel all of those things." Those simple words gave her permission to grieve honestly.
In the aftermath of disaster, there is no "right" way to feel. There is sadness. Anger. Relief. Gratitude. Fear. Hope. Sometimes all within the same conversation.
As The Salvation Army continues serving in the aftermath of this tragedy, practical assistance remains essential. Families are receiving clothing vouchers, gift cards for immediate necessities, snacks, water, and connections to community resources.
While practical assistance helps families navigate today, our ministry doesn't end with meeting physical needs. Every day, Salvation Army officers, chaplains, and volunteers are also caring for the emotional and spiritual wounds left behind by disaster. It happens in conversations between strangers who become neighbors. In tears that are finally allowed to fall. In prayers whispered together. In the reassurance that every emotion has a place, and every person has someone willing to listen.
Months from now, many of the vouchers will be spent, the paperwork completed, and the debris cleared away. But people rarely forget the person who listened when they needed to cry, who prayed with them when words were hard to find, or who reminded them that hope still exists even in the darkest moments.
That is the heart of The Salvation Army's ministry…meeting human needs in Christ's name without discrimination. Whether providing practical assistance or simply a compassionate presence, we remain committed to walking alongside our neighbors for as long as the road to healing requires.