TORONTO, ON—“It’s safe to say that The Salvation Army knows a lot of people in need,” says public relations director Andrew Burditt. He’s not joking. A lot of Canadians—way too many—are hungry.

The figures reveal a disturbing trend. According to Salvation Army sources, the number of food banks in Canada has tripled in the past 15 years and the proportion of the population relying on them has doubled. The number of children living in poverty has risen 20 per cent since 1989.

And that’s part of the reason why a Christian denomination with a history of reaching out to the unfortunate and a continuing mandate for social care is poised as the nation’s largest non-governmental provider of social services.

This doesn’t just mean dishing out food, although The Salvation Army certainly is involved with that. Indeed, in the past year the Army provided 560,000 adults and 265,000 children with “material assistance” (food, clothing and accommodation) and served 1.3 million free meals through community feeding programs.

Working to reduce and alleviate poverty involves considerably more than food services. Captain Paul Trickett of Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, for example, sees literacy as a way to tackle the problem. Because 30 per cent of the adult population in the surrounding area has a reading level of Grade 6 or less, Trickett’s church offers resumé writing and budget counselling, among other things.

“The idea is to give people basic assistance so they can break the cycle of poverty,” he says.

Similarly, free tutoring in basic school subjects is way of serving new immigrant communities in a rundown social housing area in central Toronto. “How do we define worship?” asks Joe Elkerton, director of Community Ministries in Regent Park. “It’s through service to widows and orphans…and immigrants.”

And in Kindersley, Saskatchewan, The Salvation Army helps to run a “Kids in the Kitchen” program that teaches young teens how to prepare nutritious meals. Approximately 100 students have completed the program, and most of the funding comes from profits at the Salvation Army thrift store.

But it’s not all about giving. Receiving matters, too. Dion Oxford, founding director of The Salvation Army’s Gateway Hostel in downtown Toronto, has learned that truly effective work with the poor requires tremendous patience and personal humility.

“Let’s not try to share Jesus with people until we’re ready to meet Jesus in people,” he says. “Let’s not try to meet human needs without acknowledging our own needs. And let’s not try to transform our communities until we ourselves are ready to be transformed.”