by Jill Johnson
I made the trip to Ypsilanti, Mich., to see for myself how archery was making a difference in the corps. You see, only one short year ago there were no kids to be found inside The Salvation Army.
That all changed once Captain Jeremy Fingar, corps officer, announced the corps was starting an archery club. On average, 20 youth now come to the corps. When 4:30 p.m. rolls around, a bunch of energetic kids blows through the door. They’ve come to see how many bullseyes they can hit!
Preston is relatively new. Since the other youth already had the concepts down when he started, Preston felt a little intimidated. He tried a few times to hit the target, but the arrows just didn’t stick. Then, it happened—one arrow after another stuck—and he got excited. Each week the archery club ends their session with “Who wants to try and beat the captain!” Can you imagine the look on Preston’s face when he tied with Captain Jeremy? Even more priceless was the captain’s expression.
Not only has archery grown in the past year, but character-building programs and Sunday school have, too!
I asked the captain, “Did all these kids come into the building for the first time because of archery?” He replied, “Yep, 100 percent.”
