Salvation Army in Brookings has best funds year in last five

By John Kubal

The Brookings Register

Posted 1/24/25

BROOKINGS — Hunter Harvey, service center administrator for the Salvation Army in Brookings, came to the job in February 2024. With the new job came “the first for everything,” tied …

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Salvation Army in Brookings has best funds year in last five

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BROOKINGS — Hunter Harvey, service center administrator for The Salvation Army in Brookings, came to the job in February 2024. With the new job came “the first for everything,” tied to being the sole presence of The Salvation Army in Brookings. She saw February as the “best way for me to start.”

“We have Share the Warmth, which is a really large event, where we give out winter-wear items one day in October; so we actually start doing stuff like that in the springtime,” Harvey explained. “(We’re) ordering snow pants, doing drives and then we start having (Share the Warmth) Committee meetings during the summertime and then we have the event one day in October.”

On that one-day event more than 1,000 winter coats were given away. However, she noted that the SA office has coats and other winter-wear — snow pants, hats, gloves and scarves — available throughout the year for people unable to make it to the one-day event.

“We focus on school-age kids, basically those going outside for recess and needing those items to go outside,” Harvey explained. “We don’t want them to sit inside because they don’t have the right attire.” She added that the SA partners with Runnings and Shoe Sensation for the purchase of snow boots. 

Additionally, she noted that winter-wear donations are welcome: items that are “used and in good condition. That means working zippers, no stains or tears. However, not enough snow pants are donated, so the need is filled by purchasing some.” 

Adult coats are purchased for bigger kids and teenagers when needed. She noted that The Salvation Army in Brookings does not have a thrift shop and she does not solicit donation of household items, appliances or other such items: “We do only take winter-wear items — and it’s not sweaters or sweatshirts. It’s coats, snow pants, hats, gloves, scarves, boots. … I don’t the word to get out that we’re taking stuff.”

 Only SA rep in town

Harvey, from Luverne, Minnesota, came to Brookings as a college freshman at South Dakota State University and never left. She graduated in 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in human development and family studies, and a minor in rehabilitation services.

She took a job with Inter-Lakes Community Action Partnership in Watertown, working case management for transitional housing. Some of her clients had substance abuse with alcohol and drugs and other minor law-breaking issues. Her goal was to help them “establish a routine, sobriety (sometimes via AA), getting to appointments on time, getting a job and maintaining a job.”

“I loved my job, loved my clients … but I was looking for something in Brookings,” Harvey said.

She admits to not liking the daily commute to and from Watertown; so when The Salvation Army position of service center administrator came open, she applied and was hired.

“It’s closer to home, less of a drive but also more of a growth in my career, because it came with more responsibilities.”

Harvey is not an SA officer and is the only SA employee in Brookings.

“We’re considered a ‘service extension unit.’ It’s a small office, one employee. We do a lot of different things for clients, but we’re not big enough to have a corps (church or chapel). Watertown and Sioux Falls have chapels, a thrift store, a food pantry. They’re big and they’re run by Salvation Army officers and local staff.”

Harvey sees a role for a thrift store in Brookings and believes it would do well, but the present price of real estate precludes that happening.

With Share the Warmth behind her, the administrator moved on to a real trial by fire: her first Red Kettle Campaign, arguably the biggest visible presence of the SA in Brookings, got under way and she was in it by herself.

“I had a month to really dial things in. I just wanted to get through it,” Harvey said. “To be honest, I didn’t really want to change anything too much to where I would overwhelm myself.” Laughing, she said, “So my goal was $25,000.” Her mission was more than accomplished: $41,000.

Harvey said that is the most money raised in a Red Kettle Campaign in Brookings in the past five years. The first and most successful Campaign in Brookings was in 2019; it was aided by a donor who gave a $20,000 gift.

The six-week long drive was Tuesday through Friday, 4 to 8 p.m. Kettles were at the two Walmart doors and one each at Hy-Vee and Lewis Drug. On three or four Saturdays, bell ringers were outside at Ray’s Corner. A dozen Counter Kettles brought in just over $1,000.

Add to the kettles a first-time event for the SA in Brookings: a float in the Parade of Lights, in partnership with St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, “small church but very mighty; they wanted to do it.” And a bell ringer was out during the parade. Making for the success of the annual campaign were about 200 volunteers.

Finally, Harvey is able to announce another first for the SA in Brookings: “I am so excited to announce that we are the first ‘physical access point’ in Brookings to offer in-person coordinated entry assessments for those who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness in our county. We are extremely proud to be able to offer this service and are anxious to see how it benefits our community.”

Brookings will have access to a Coordinated Entry System, a statewide database that gets families connected to housing programs in their area and helps track homelessness in Brookings County, giving concrete data to help spread awareness and come up with community solutions.

As an aside, Harvey noted between Oct 1, 2024, the start of the SA fiscal year, to Jan. 15, the Brookings office helped 19 homeless people with hotel rooms, bus tickets and gas.

The Salvation Army office in Brookings is located at 619 Fifth Ave, Suite 4B. Office hours are 1 to 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and Fridays by appointment only. Office phone: 605-219-8970. Cellphone (call or text): 402-510-9642.

— Contact John Kubal at jkubal@brookingsregister.com.