06: How The Salvation Army will double its impact on homelessness with Commissioner Kenneth G. Hodder

When Commissioner Kenneth G. Hodder returned to the U.S. after 11 years living abroad, he said he was taken aback by the number of people he saw living on the streets—in tents, below freeway underpasses, and at the base of our cities’ skyscrapers. 

He returned to the West coast to lead The Salvation Army here and knew The Salvation Army had to act. 

The organization began in London in 1865 as William Booth walked the streets preaching to the homeless, the hungry and the destitute. What became The Salvation Army set out to offer compassionate, tangible service to people in need—you may have even heard the motto: Soup, Soap and Salvation. 

Now that service extends to more than 130 countries around the world and to every zip code here in the U.S. as The Salvation Army works to meet human need in every community—exactly as that community needs. 

A graduate of Harvard Law School, Commissioner Hodder has served as a Salvation Army officer for 31 years—ministering in communities from Glendale, California, to Kakamega, Kenya. 

In this episode, he shares more about The Way Out—a Salvation Army initiative in the West to not only address the epidemic of homelessness, but to double The Salvation Army’s impact—because as Commissioner Hodder says: there is no one better poised to do so.   

 

Find show notes for this episode and more at caringmagazine.org/podcast.