Dec 22, 2016 5 min read

Sometimes a varied career can be an employment asset. Take Ruth Cialone, a Donora resident who’s deftly juggling two positions with the Salvation Army at the Monessen Citadel.

On her résumé, Cialone can list three years of college where she studied nursing and education, ownership of an auto repair garage in Donora, an eight-year stint as a chiropractic assistant and a 15-year term as a homeschool mom for her two children while also teaching classes for her homeschool group.

In between, she found time to earn extra income as a cake decorator and an independent distributor of beauty products.

She’s also part of the core team that runs the youth group at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in California and currently has membership in three regional chambers of commerce.

All these elements in her work history, as well as her accumulated networking skills, are coming in handy in her dual role as the Citadel’s corps volunteer liaison and Bridging the Gap coordinator, positions she took on starting on Oct. 20.

As corps volunteer liaison, Cialone supervises close to 150 volunteers at the Citadel who do everything from collecting donations for the Christmas kettles and preparing and serving Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter dinners to the needy to manning the monthly food bank program and making sure the Citadel’s annual winter coat giveaway goes smoothly.

Beginning Jan. 17, Cialone will kick-start the Citadel’s Bridging the Gap program, something she’s been planning since taking on the job of coordinator back in October. Designed to assist at-risk and high-risk youth between the ages of 12 and 17, Bridging the Gap attempts to improve their life skills.

“The program is meant for boys and girls who are having difficulty with some issue such as finding a job, struggling in school, losing a parent or may have committed a nonviolent crime” Cialone said. “They can be referred to Bridging the Gap by their guidance counselor, teachers, pastor, parents or the courts.”

Twice a week for six weeks, from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, Citadel van drivers will bring them to the Monessen Salvation Army Citadel, 308 Schoonmaker Ave., where they’ll enjoy a snack followed by homework time and a discussion of a topic.

Subjects to be covered include self-esteem, living a healthy lifestyle, violent behavior, anger and conflict management, relationships and effective communication and drug and alcohol addictions At the end of the sessions, they’ll also be treated to a well-balanced meal.

All of the food participants receive will be donated by the Salvation Army or its volunteers, and none will be taken from the food bank to feed the participants. Currently, Cialone is seeking volunteers from church, women’s and men’s groups to help prepare the meals.

“Everything in the program is offered the students free of charge,” she said. “After graduating, they can become peer mentors with Bridging the Gap or other activities here at the Citadel.”

“We feel Ruth’s background makes her an exceptionally suitable candidate for the position,” Citadel Capt. Susan Thwaite said..”She understands what our youth are facing. She’s homeschooled her two children and taught classes, which makes her a perfect fit for helping our youth succeed in school. Finally, through her networking skills, she’s able to bring in speakers from local chambers of commerce and service organizations to speak to our youth on possible career paths they might want to follow.”

The first sessions will be limited to 10 participants, and Thwaite and her husband and fellow captain Joel Thwaite will oversee the program, which will be repeated twice more this coming year with the expectation that they will eventually be offered quarterly.

“The Bridging the Gap program began in Massachusetts in 1996,” said Susan Thwaite. “Through it, the Salvation Army has seen such great results that we decided to bring it to Southwestern Pennsylvani The Citadel is the fourth Salvation Army in the area to add the program. We believe that due to the economics and opioid epidemic in our community, all our youth is at risk and in need of a support system.”

To better prepare for the program, Cialone visited three other Southwestern Pennsylvania sites currently offering the program – in Kittanning, New Kensington and the West Side of Pittsburgh.

“All three are all slightly different because they depend on the age range of the participants,” Cialone said.

Two facets of the program that will soon be getting underway at the Citadel are a drum circle and group drum lessons, which Cialone sees as therapeutic tools.

“Down the road, our drum corps could perform in parades and other events and eventually participate in the Twin Coaches Band,” she said.

Cialone said she’s developing the music segment in partnership with Mon Valley Academy for the Arts, where she serves on the board, and hopes eventually to add group guitar lessons and instruction on other instruments as well, but those plans are dependent on additional funding.

“We have a lot of things going on here at the Monessen Salvation Army,” she said. “We’re a lot more than people standing around kettles ringing bells. We have programs for people of all ages and are here to serve the community.”

For more information, call 724-684-4282.