Salvation Army

In 1864, British Minister William Booth left the confines of his church walls and founded the Salvation Army (then known as The Christian Mission), preaching to destitute individuals on the streets of London. In 1878, Salvation Army members Amos and Annie Shirley and their 17-year-old daughter Eliza immigrated from England to Philadelphia, PA and brought the work of the Salvation Army to the U.S. Today, the Salvation Army is a Christian church and international nonprofit, with the fourth highest revenue from private donations among U.S. charities at $2 billion in 2019, and serving approximately 23 million people in the U.S. each year. The Salvation Army works to meet a myriad of needs of people without sufficient resources by providing shelter, meals, employment assistance, utility assistance, and after-school and holiday programming. The Salvation Army’s Pathway of Hope program provides individualized support to families in need and connects them to vital resources like housing, health and legal services, childcare, job training, and education.