Salvation Army majors get the call to move on

FALL RIVER — Salvation Army Majors Shaun and Kim Belanger got the call.

After leading the Salvation Army at 290 Bedford St. for the past three years, they’ll be heading off to their next adventure.

“It’s bittersweet,” said Kim Belanger. “We love the community, but we’re excited for what’s ahead.”

The Belangers will leave July 2 for the West Nyack, New York, headquarters, where they will help new majors prepare for their own call.

And that’s part of the job — all based on community need. For the Belangers, it will be their sixth move in 18 years.

“It’s a new adventure,” Shaun Belanger said.

In Fall River, they said they met many friends and got to know and understand the community.

“We’ll keep those friendships,” Shaun Belanger said. “I think the city has had more of an impact on us (than we’ve had on it).”

He said he found Fall River very caring. “They come together to meet those needs,” Shaun Belanger said of the city's residents. “That has inspired us.”

“They do,” Kim Belanger agreed. “The city as a whole I would describe as very caring, a loving community who helps those less fortunate.”

The Belangers said they carried on the many worthy programs of the Salvation Army over the past three years. Shaun Belanger started an archery program that he said will continue. Kim Belanger ran the teen ministry for girls.

Salvation Army offerings include a food pantry and soup kitchen, giving out hundreds of turkeys each year for the holidays, giving clothing, meeting other basic needs and offering religious services.

The Salvation Army runs programs for youth, single mothers, and for those coping with substance abuse, as well as the poor, working poor and homeless.

The Belangers, natives of Connecticut, have been married for 21 years. They are parents of two boys — one a recent high school graduate and the other a sophomore in high school.

As the Belangers move on to their next assignment, they can consider their job in Fall River a mission successfully completed.

“It’s hard leaving, but we wouldn’t know the people here that we’ve come to love,” Shaun Belanger said.

A new husband and wife team, Majors Geoffrey Swires and Mari Ortiz-Swires, from Indiana, Pennsylvania, will take over at the Salvation Army July 2.

Email Deborah Allard at dallard@heraldnews.com.