Salvation Army to get a new pair

GLENDALE — Salvation Army Captains Jim and Barbara Sloan, who have led the Glendale branch for six years, will be moving to Portland, Ore., effective July 11, and will be replaced by a couple from Colorado.

The Sloans received word in March that they would be reassigned, but they were not told where their next assignment would be until Friday.

“[Portland] wasn’t really on our radar at all,” Jim Sloan said.

Meanwhile, about 1,000 miles east, in a bedroom community of Colorado Springs, Colo., Salvation Army Captains Rio and Rachel Ray discovered they would be taking the Sloans’ place.

While the couple have enjoyed their five years in Fountain Valley, Colo., the California natives, along with their two sons — 5 and 2 — are looking forward to a new challenge, Rio Ray said.

“It’s kind of exciting,” he said.

With new homes come new job descriptions for the two couples.

The Sloans are scheduled to take on newly created positions as metro coordinators for the Salvation Army’s social service programs in the Greater Portland area, a duty that will involve a lot of program supervision, support and community involvement, Salvation Army Maj. Donald Hostetler said.

The Sloans will now be part of a much larger command under the Cascade Division, which oversees the entire state of Oregon and much of Idaho, and that services tens of thousands of clients each day, Hostetler said.

“We have great appreciation for their leadership and their skills,” he said.

Those skills will be tapped almost immediately as the Cascade Division seeks to reassure its Portland clients that their services will remain intact, Hostetler said, even as the command moves its headquarters to a location just outside the city.

Securing new housing to replace the current “decaying” veterans shelter will also be a top assignment, he added.

“They’re coming into a situation that is in transition at the moment,” he said.

At the same time, the Rays leave behind a community of about 20,000 for a city of more than 200,000 people that is considered a major link between the foothill cities and the behemoth of Los Angeles in terms of social services to low-income and homeless clients.

They also face the added pressure of taking over for a couple who have become immensely popular because of their active involvement in the community beyond the walls of their Windsor Road facility.

Barbara Sloan, who as a former bank executive brought financial stability to the Glendale Salvation Army, has handled the daily operations, leaving her husband to expand more into community outreach and coalition building.

“Both have shown tremendous leadership,” said Madalyn Blake, director of the city’s Community Development and Housing Department.

Jim Sloan’s participation in the Homeless Coalition and other community boards, together with his wife’s steady management, will no doubt leave two pairs of oversized shoes for the Rays to fill, she added.

But the newcomers won’t be alone. Jim Sloan has already started phone tag with his successor, and Blake said she and her staff members would be more than willing to show them the “lay of the land.”

That landscape is a complex one, especially as the Glendale Salvation Army continues to reposition itself as a primary provider for low-income families and youth, as opposed to the homeless.

The organization is also in the midst of another strategic planning session with its advisory board as it seeks to extend the reach of existing programs.

Even so, Jim Sloan’s involvement with the Homeless Coalition, winter shelter, meals program and other homeless-related issues will certainly beg Rio Ray to carry on in that role, Blake said. “The service providers in Glendale work very well together,” she said. “I’m sure they’ll do fine.”

And so will the Sloans, said Hostetler, who plans to meet the couple in June to discuss the transition.

“I know their skills; we’re happy to have them in the division,” he said.

Jim Sloan said he and his wife are sad to leave but eager to take on a new challenge that will hopefully take them through to retirement in five years.

“It’s going to be hard to leave, but at the same time, there’s feelings of anticipation,” Jim Sloan said. “It will tax us from a skill set, and we will be challenged by this, but we think we can make an impact on where we’re going.”

 JASON WELLS covers City Hall. He may be reached at (818) 637-3235 or by e-mail at jason.wells@latimes.com.