McComb, Salvation Army Gear Up For Holidays

It’s mid-November, and that means go-time for Tom McComb and the rest of the .

Well, sort of.

The holiday season is when Salvation Army is the busiest, but to be sure, it’s a year-round labor of love for McComb, the dozen other staff members and hundreds of volunteers who make the organization at the corner of Centennial and Howell run.

Their mission is quite simple: to meet human needs. Which means different things to different areas - in southern Africa, as McComb says, it means running a hospital and primary schools. Closer to home, in downtown Milwaukee, the Salvation Army has a shelter for women and children, many of whom are leaving abusive homes.

It’s all about adapting to the environment and determining the greatest need of that area.

So what’s the biggest need in Oak Creek?

“I think the greatest need here is hope,” McComb said. “I think we need some hope. I think we need to know that things are going to get better. That somehow we’re going to come through this economy, that we’re going to come through this OK.”

The Oak Creek SA centers around services including child care, a place to live for senior citizens () and programs for youth. A myriad of other things - church on Sundays, 4-year-old kindergarten, food pantry – are also key components.

So in its own way, McComb and staff believe they can help ease the burden on families. Its child-care program, for example, can give a family an affordable, safe environment for kids while their parents are away. Children get transportation to school, snacks, help with homework, a gymnasium to play in and much more.

“For those parents, we’re giving them peace of mind. Everything else is crazy around them – at least they know their kids are taken care of,” McComb said.

For McComb, the days can get long. Sometimes, overwhelming.

He was running late for his 2 p.m. interview with Patch because he was visiting people in the hospital. Earlier in the day, he helped transport kids to five different schools. Later, Salvation Army was to host its own version of boy scouts and girl scouts, then supper, then Bible studies, then choir practice, then a Brass Band rehearsal.

Most of McComb’s days go from 7 in the morning to 8 at night. He’s stretched even more thin after three employees left – one to go back to school, one for a surgery and another who retired.

But even the most stressful moments can bring satisfaction.

“I think it’s important to say that my involvement as Salvation Army officer is part an outgrowth of my relationship with God,” he said. “He has, for lack of a better word, called me to do this. It’s a vocation that way, and it, for me, is very fulfilling.”

And there’s certainly plenty happening to keep him busy these days.

Namely, the group's bell ringers re-entered the shopping scene on Nov. 4, and the organization is taking applications for Christmas assistance, a program that helps parents provide Christmas gifts for their children.

McComb knows it’s more important now than perhaps ever before in his 25-year career, the last 16 months of which have been in Oak Creek.

“Strangely enough, when times are toughest, our donations are highest,” he said. “To me, it communicates a trust that they have. That if anybody’s going to help out, it will be the Salvation Army.

“It inspires me to work harder. But it also puts a heavy weight of responsibility on me. We got this public that’s counting on us.”