Dec 19, 2015 5 min read

One of the first things Kim Redd did when she got a bonus from work was purchase 20 hamburgers.

And none of them was for her – or her boyfriend, Tommy West.

Instead, the Amity couple distributed the burgers to homeless men and women who stay at what they call “the beach” in Washington.

“They took the hamburgers. They were very gracious,” Redd said.

That was nearly two months ago, and the gratitude of the homeless made such an impression on Redd and West that they have been delivering sandwiches to them every Sunday ever since.

It’s just one of the many ways the recovering alcoholics have been paying it forward since finding their way to the Salvation Army in Washington.

“It’s definitely a calling that God put in her life. God has told her to reach out to people,” said Lt. Esther Wilson, whose first day on the job at the Washington corps in June 2014 coincided with the couple’s first visit.

Reed and West were encouraged to seek solace at the Salvation Army by a longtime volunteer, and, almost grudgingly, Redd, according to Wilson, said, “OK. We’re going to the stupid Salvation Army.”

Redd found out it wasn’t so stupid, and she has not once regretted their decision.

“Nobody judges you,” Redd said. “We would have been nothing if not for good Christian people. I spent my life drinking. I’m living life again.”

“And they’re living life by giving to others,” Wilson quickly added.

Redd, 41, was drinking so heavily that her boss and co-workers at U.S. Steel could smell the alcohol in her system in the morning when she came to work. “I didn’t drink on the job,” she said.

Nevertheless, she lost her job, her car was repossessed, and her house was put up for sheriff’s sale.

“It was a relief when they fired me. I had to go to rehab to get my job back,” Redd said. “I knew that if I wanted to get my life in order, I had to do what I had to do. It was the only way.

“They were hard on me, and that’s what I needed.”

After completing rehab, U.S. Steel rehired Redd, where she works in the accounting department. She has been sober since Dec. 10, 2013.

West’s entry into sobriety occurred after he wrapped his vehicle around a tree. Among other injuries, West suffered compound skull fractures, shattered bones and a lacerated liver. He said when his father came to the hospital, he thought West might be leaving in a body bag.

West was in a coma for two weeks, and when he regained consciousnes, he was unable to walk, talk or eat. After a stern pep talk from Redd, he underwent extensive rehabilitation at Harmarville. He can no longer work as a mechanic, but he helps raise the couple’s pigs, chickens, ducks and rabbits. He also is what Wilson calls a “beautiful woodworker,” even though he never worked with wood a day in his life.

“If I had known what it was like to be sober, I would have quit 20 years ago,” the 45-year-old said. “I didn’t realize that cutting grass was such a wonderful thing.”

Helping the homeless also has been cathartic for Redd and West, who met five years ago in, not surprisingly, a bar. And even though the Salvation Army has offered financial support, the couple purchase the food for the homeless with money from their own pockets.

“Everybody is struggling in their own way,” West said. “I will never drink again. It feels good to see people like I was with smiles on their faces. I could have been right there with them.”

And by ministering to the homeless, Redd and West have become true soldiers of the Salvation Army. Among the explanations for “on the wagon,” a term used in reference to abstaining from alcohol, is that Gen. Evangeline Booth, commander-in-chief of the U.S. Salvation Army in the early 20th century and daughter of its founders, toured New York boweries in a wagon, picking up drunks and delivering them to sobriety.

“We don’t have a haywagon. Now, we just have big van,” Wilson said.

Nancy Ferns, who leads the women’s group at the Salvation Army, said Redd has been a “big asset” and a “role model for them.”

Redd gained the trust of the homeless, and soon, the number of homeless began to grow, with between 20 and 25 people accepting the couple’s help. And once they got to talking, Redd asked what they might need.

As a result, Ferns helped spearhead donations through the Salvation Army of sleeping bags, tarps, golf umbrellas, winter coats, gloves, hats and scarves for the homeless.

“I didn’t know there were a lot of homeless here,” Wilson said. “It’s about making contact. We’re just here to love them. God can reform and redeem them and make them new.”