Salvation Army couple dedicated to helping Merced

One act of love has resulted in so much good.

That’s the legacy that Lt. Joel Boyd and his wife, Kimberly, bring with them as the officers and pastors of Merced’s Salvation Army. They assumed command of the local philanthropic organization in early July and have grand plans for the area it serves.

Boyd tells about his paternal grandmother, a single mother in the 1960s who had parted with her alcoholic and abusive husband in Alaska and was trying to raise three small children on her own.

It was Christmastime, and she wasn’t sure how to break the news to the kids that there wasn’t enough money for gifts or even a holiday dinner. But when she returned home on Christmas Eve, there was a pile of gifts for herself and the children along with a holiday dinner on her doorstep.

The gifts came with a card reading: “From your friends at the Salvation Army.”

Those acts of holiday kindness spawned a lifelong relationship with the Salvation Army. Both of the Boyds’ parents and their brothers and sisters also have joined the charitable organization that dates back to the 1800s. Three of Joel Boyd’s grandmother’s grandchildren ultimately became Salvation Army officers.

Kimberly Boyd, also a lieutenant and the mother of four young children, explains her zeal for Salvation Army service this way:

“One thing I love about the Salvation Army is they are welcoming to ‘the least of these’ in society,” she said. “The people everyone’s afraid to get close to. There’s a part of me that loves trying to love the unlovable. That’s what being an officer is, serving people who have no one else.”

In her growing efforts here, Kimberly Boyd wants to provide Merced’s youth with a safe place to go, with adults they can trust. They are developing a program to be offered at Stephen Leonard Park in South Merced that will involve students at nearby Margaret Sheehy Elementary School.

Joel Boyd said the Salvation Army’s “A Helping Hand at Christmas” is a fantastic program that exemplifies an act of love.

“I like fundraisers that are simple in nature and find their power in collaboration,” he said. “It gives people an opportunity to connect with the Salvation Army and the community. It can be that one act of love that changes a family forever.”

Kimberly Boyd said one of the most difficult aspects of her job is not being able to help people who contact her. With Helping Hand, there are different resources to help meet needs that might otherwise go unfulfilled.

Joel Boyd, 29, graduated in 2011 from the Salvation Army’s seminary in the Los Angeles area at the same time as his wife. Their education there covered classes in business administration for managing a non-profit organization along with pastoral training and Bible classes.

The Boyds came to Merced from Greeley, Colo., a city of 120,000 people, where they spent three years. Joel Boyd said the demographics and needs of both towns are similar. His passion is to help broken families separate from the abuse, drugs and neglect that plague them.

“A community is essentially just a group of families,” Boyd said. “If they aren’t taught good life skills as a child, the chances of having strong families are stacked against them. It’s difficult to raise a strong family when they don’t see it modeled for them.”

Kimberly Boyd said life skills embody teaching people how to use resources that are available. It’s not just a handout, it’s a hand up.

She said they see between 90 and 130 people for a hot breakfast on Tuesdays through Thursdays and there are plans to expand that to Mondays in December. The Salvation Army church serves about 45 people each Sunday.

Joel Boyd said he has been part of the organization since his parents became involved in the Salvation Army church. His father is the business administrator for the Salvation Army Corps in Pasadena, and Kimberly’s parents are divisional officers in Sacramento.

Joel Boyd said he spent a year doing missions work in the slums of Vancouver, B.C., believed to be the poorest area in all of Canada. He said that was the most influential year in his life, and he switched his aspirations from becoming a lawyer or psychologist to a Salvation Army officer.

“I began praying to God about what I wanted to do with my life,” he said. “I was looking into a lot of different ministries and felt strongly called to become a Salvation Army officer. I have grown a passion for helping at-risk youth and kids in the foster system.”

Children are the most impoverished people in our nation, Joel Boyd believes, because they have the fewest options available to them. He said working with the Salvation Army gives him lots of opportunities to help children and make a difference in their lives.

Kimberly Boyd, a native of Portland, said that as a teenager she worked at a Salvation Army camp, helping with at-risk students. It was her first exposure to ministry. After graduating from high school, she moved to Seattle, where she worked in a low-income, after-school day-care program.

“My first exposure to ministry was working with kids, showing there’s something better than what they have at home,” she said. “It was about this point I realized becoming a Salvation Army officer was something I would consider.”

When Kimberly Boyd was 19, she spent a summer in San Francisco, working in the Tenderloin district at a day camp for elementary through high school youth. This cemented her resolve to work with the Salvation Army.

She said she and her husband, who were married in April 2007, came to the same conclusions about Salvation Army service individually.

The Boyds have four children: Hannah, 6; James, 5; Audrey, 3; and Daniel, 1.

Between caring for their children and carrying out their responsibilities for the organization, the Boyds have plenty to do that’s fulfilling and dovetails with the Salvation Army’s mission: “Doing the most good.”

This story was originally published November 28, 2014 at 4:00 PM with the headline "Salvation Army couple dedicated to helping Merced."