Reported on July 9, 2009

PHILADELPHIA — Christopher A. Key spent 13 years wandering in and out of recovery houses and homeless shelters, intermittently sober, stoned or drunk, before he came into the Salvation Army social services office last September.

Key, 44, asked caseworker Ted Lewis to send him as far away as he could.

“Once you’re caught up in the disease of addiction, you get so comfortable living the rat race,” said Key, who was addicted to crack cocaine and alcohol and grew up running on the same North Philadelphia streets where he later slept. “You can see life on the other side, but it’s like the devil has you and you can’t get back over. People can pray for you and give you all the advice in the world, but it’s up to you to make the ultimate decision.”

Lewis referred Key to the Adult Rehabilitation Center in Erie, Pa., over 420 miles from the Salvation Army office near the intersection of Broad and Ridge avenues. Twice, Key failed to show up for the bus to Erie. He finally made the connection and arrived on Oct. 7.

He graduated from the center, sober, on April 30.

Referrals like the one Lewis gave Key are among the services the Salvation Army is still able to provide in this city as the foundering economy cuts into donors large and small.

The most dramatic cut came from the United Way, which has supported the Salvation Army since the early 1900s, forcing a 15 percent decrease in operating revenue.

Nationwide, charitable giving fell 2 percent in 2008, to $307.65 billion. Data for charitable giving in 2009 is not yet available.

Lewis is the lone caseworker remaining in Philadelphia after three sites were closed and four caseworkers were laid off last fall. Even the Philadelphia Social Service Ministries, where Lewis works, temporarily closed for September and October. Meanwhile, requests for help have increased 30 percent, said Chas Watson, director of development for the Salvation Army’s PennDel division.

“There are still a lot of people who come to us as a first source,” Lewis said. “We now have a quota of 15 clients per day to which we can give food, clothing and furniture.”

Providing assistance such as clothing for a job interview or beds for mothers to regain custody of their children are the social services offices’ main responsibilities, Lewis said.

The quota has about cut in half the number of people Lewis is able to help.

One of the biggest losses, Watson said, was an $880,000 annual donation from the United Way that was discontinued when the United Way redefined its goals this summer to focus on education for children, income for families and health for seniors. The United Way determined the Salvation Army was not quite in line with those goals, said Joseph DeVincenzo, vice president of marketing and communications for United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania.

“It’s not that what the Salvation Army does isn’t good, just that they aren’t in the same focus areas that we are,” said DiVincenzo, adding the United Way continued funding about $400,000 to the Salvation Army last year to lessen the impact.

Services like those offered to Key—personal advice, spiritual guidance and referrals—persist because they require no cash outlay. The 15-client quota may be reached within an hour or two of the office opening at 8:30 a.m., but Lewis said he and case aid Peggy Powell provide informal counseling to almost twice that many clients each day.

“We get a lot of calls,” Lewis said. “We answer all our phone calls and return calls we can’t answer right away.”

Key said he remained optimistic the Salvation Army would find money to operate.

“I know God is going to provide,” Key said. “The same God that provided for me is going to provide for the next person that comes through and the next person after that. I don’t have any worries that this program will dissipate in the near future. I do not believe that.”