Michael Neary / The Meridian StarMajor Young Soon Kim, left, and Major Yong Kwan Kim came to The Salvation Army in Meridian last June.

For Anthony Kirkland, the men’s shelter in The Salvation Army of Meridian supplied a much-needed place to stay a couple of months ago — but the help has reached way beyond the merely pragmatic since then.

“I had some family issues going on,” Kirkland said, noting that the issues “weren’t major” but enough to spark the need for him to move into the shelter. Soon things began to change for him.

“I would volunteer,” he said, “whether it was cleaning or taking out trash.”

Staff members at The Salvation Army noticed the way he worked, and before long he’d landed a paying job as the shelter monitor.

It’s the sort of help — the sort of first step — that Major Young Soon Kim strives to offer people in her position as commanding officer for The Salvation Army of Meridian. It’s a position she holds with her husband.

“I believe that church needs to move out of church to serve the community,” Kim said.

The Salvation Army of Meridian offers a host of services, in addition to the men’s shelter, and its thrift store stands at 2306 N. Frontage Road, Kim was talking about her work, on a recent morning, in the church building at 120 6th Ave.

Kim has worked for The Salvation Army for nearly 20 years with her husband, Major Yong Kwan Kim, in cities such as Atlanta, Georgia, Washington, D.C. and, most recently, Birmingham, Alabama. They came to the United States from South Korea.

Yong Kwan Kim was a Baptist minister in the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary at Wake Forest, in North Carolina, at the time he decided to join The Salvation Army.

“God called me to be in The Salvation Army,” he said. “It’s not only in church when we’re going to serve the Lord. It’s also on the weekdays when we’re helping the neighborhood people.”

Since coming to Meridian, Young Soon Kim said she’s enjoyed the friendliness of the people here, but she also sees the urgent need for help.

“It’s a small city, but you see more need here,” she said. “Here, I see many people just left out and somewhere, homeless, and (struggling) with drugs and things like that.”

The Salvation Army’s men’s shelter, Kim explained, does not take people who are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and so she’s watched people under the influence be turned away.

“It’s heartbreaking,” she said.

Kim said a number of people come to the shelter after they’re released from jail or prison — and another staff member noted that the majority are nonviolent offenders.

“They have no place to go,” Kim said, noting that housing is generally the first step they need to take.

“We also help them with social services,” she said. “We sometimes transport them to go look for a job.”

Kim focuses on administrative duties in The Salvation Army, she said, while her husband concentrates on church ministry. She works with a host of staff members, including Stacy Brown, a Salvation Army caseworker who works closely with the homeless shelter.

Brown said one of the basic challenges faced by people in the shelter involves finding work.

“It’s hard for them to find employment because of their address and phone number,” she said. “Some of them don’t have a cell phone, so if an employer tries to find them, they might have to call this office.

And that, she explained, may not be as efficient as the process for reaching other candidates.

Brown also noted the need for drug rehabilitation programs for people who seek — particularly when mental health issues are involved.

“They go hand-in-hand: drug abuse and mental health,” she said.

And, voicing a thought that others in the area have noted, Brown said that more collaboration among local agencies in would help.

“If all of the agencies would get together and work together, it would be a whole lot better,” she said.

As for Kirkland, the help with transportation and the other necessities he’s received have been useful. But he said something else has transpired, between him and the staff at The Salvation Army, that inches beyond pragmatic, physical help.

“It’s mental,” he said, noting that he might converse with them about family problems. “I can come and vent … and when I’m wrong, they tell me that I’m wrong. It’s not just telling me what I want to hear.”

Kirkland, noting the importance of “putting God first,” said he hopes to return to school and land his own apartment. But meanwhile, he’s finding work and sustenance where he is.

And so the work of The Salvation Army staff members — people like Young Soon Kim, Yong Kwan Kim and Stacy Brown — connects with Kirkland in some profound ways.

“It’s not just having a place to stay, or having food to eat, or having a place to take a shower,” Kirkland said. “It goes deeper than that.”

People seeking information about The Salvation Army in Meridian, along with people interested in serving as kettle workers, can call 601-483-6156.