Salvation Army Presents Its Youngest ‘Junior Soldiers’

Local Salvation Army officials used the dedication of their new headquarters Sunday to introduce the youngest “junior soldiers” in the volunteer and charity organization in Southern California--two brothers and a sister from Ventura.

Cole Adams, 12; his brother Chase, 10, and their sister Shelby, 6, are the youngest children to be enrolled in the junior ranks, said Salvation Army Lt. Col. Sherryl VanCleef. “We all have an awareness of God in our life, even when we’re young,” said VanCleef as she introduced the children, whose mother is a graduate of a rehabilitation program in Ventura.

“Junior soldiers are children who make a declaration of their faith, and promises to God,” VanCleef said.

The Salvation Army, which has provided social services in downtown Ventura since 1891, relocated its administrative offices and chapel on Sunday to 650 S. Petit Ave.

The organization had until last week operated its headquarters on Oak Street, said Capt. Mike Beauchamp, who runs the Salvation Army Ventura Corps with his wife.

The building near Thompson Boulevard was remodeled in 1993 and has served the organization well since. “But three-quarters of our building downtown eventually was turned into a transitional center,” Beauchamp said.

Although the Salvation Army’s administrative office and chapel have moved, homeless and emergency family services will remain downtown, Beauchamp said.

“We will try to be a host for a senior nutrition feeding site and a latchkey drop-in center on Petit,” Beauchamp said.

Since 1989, the Salvation Army has operated Silvercrest, a 75-unit residence for low-income seniors located next to the new headquarters.