New junior soldiers in Jamestown

by Robert Mitchell

The Salvation Army’s Jamestown, N.Y., Temple enrolled seven new junior soldiers on Oct. 29.

The group included Charles McAdoo, Addison Lucas, Kayra Jimenez, Amaya Jimenez, Kylee Rhault, Lovah Kibbler, and Wayne Gould. Another potential soldier, 6-year-old Emmanuel Cross, is a year too young to be officially enrolled, but he took part in the ceremony to get a feel for the experience.

Major Kimberly Merchant, the co-commanding officer in Jamestown who led the enrollments, said between the COVID-19 pandemic and other setbacks, the process of getting the soldiers trained took a while.

“It took us longer than it normally would, but we truly wanted the children to understand what they were experiencing,” Merchant said. “Every child that was enrolled had parental representation that Sunday morning. That was very encouraging. We felt we had the support of the parents in this step in their children’s lives.”

Merchant’s husband, Major John Merchant, also participated in the ceremony, while Noah Smith, Josh Dorman, and Ivy Smith helped with the flags.

For more information on The Salvation Army of Jamestown, N.Y., go to: https://easternusa.salvationarmy.org/empire/jamestown