A Salvation Army Christmas

　　2007-2008 学年 第 19 期

　　By Heesung shin

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　　While shopping at the mall, Daniel and Cristina meet Dorothy, a volunteer for the Salvation Army.

　　Cristina: Oh my goodness, there’s only a few days left before Christmas, and I still have a dozen people left on my list!

　　Daniel: Me too! I’m never gonna get this shopping done.

　　Cristina: Hey let’s check out this store here.

　　Daniel: Okay. Hey when I was little, I always thought receiving boring gifts was a pain in the neck, but I never thought buying them could be worse! How does Santa get it all done?

　　Cristina: Well duh! He’s got his army of elves helping him!

　　Daniel: Haha, oh yea, that’s right. Hmm, hey check it out, it’s the Salvation Army donation booth.

　　Cristina: Ah, I always see them at the mall during Christmas season.

　　Daniel: Yup, that’s right. Let’s go over and check it out.

　　Daniel: Excuse me, are you a volunteer for the Salvation Army?

　　Dorothy: Hi, yes. My name’s Dorothy. Would you like to make a donation today? Our booth is collecting donations for the soup kitchen here in the city.

　　Daniel: Wow, I didn’t even know that there was a soup kitchen in this area. How long has it been around?

　　Dorothy: The soup kitchen was started by a local church congregation in the 1950s, and it’s been around since. So I guess at least 50 years.

　　Cristina: That’s so wonderful. So what’s up with this whole Salvation Army thing? I see you guys asking for donations every winter.

　　Dorothy: Haha yea. I’ve been doing this for about five years now. We’ve got volunteers like myself at booths in about 10 different locations in the city.

　　Daniel: Man, this must be a pretty tough job. You have to stand out here in the cold for hours, just waiting for people to make donations!

　　Dorothy: Sometimes it’s pretty difficult, especially when it gets really cold. But it’s okay, there are other volunteers that’ll take my place in a few hours.

　　Daniel: Well, I guess that’s okay. But still, I mean, I hope it’s not rude of me to ask, but just how much money do you receive in a day? There must be a thousand people at this mall, but Cristina and I are the only ones here at this booth. And we haven’t even made a donation.

　　Dorothy: Haha, I guess most people are too busy to stop by the booth. We don’t receive a lot of money, but it’s okay, I understand. And they’ve all got a limited budget to spend on presents for their families and friends.

　　Cristina: So why do you do this?

　　Dorothy: Personally, I try to stay away from the commercialized hoopla of Christmas. You know, Christmas is a traditional Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus, the savior of the world.

　　Cristina: But what does that have to do with your volunteering work?

　　Dorothy: Jesus was born to serve this world, and to save it. And so, this is my way of celebrating that, and honoring Jesus. Christmas is the day when we celebrate the day of his birth, after all.

　　Daniel: I think I see what you mean. Actually, I think that’s wonderful!

　　Dorothy: You know, if you guys are interested, the soup kitchen would love to have more volunteers serve food and distribute gifts. They’ll be having nightly dinners for the rest of the week.

　　Cristina: Really?

　　Daniel: Hey I’m totally interested!

　　Cristina: That would be really awesome. I’m going to ask some of my other friends to see if they are down with that idea.

　　Dorothy: We’d really love to have you guys. Hope to see you there!