A Product of Her Community 

by Hugo Bravo  

In August of 2024, the remnants of Hurricane Debby caused severe flooding in the northern Pennsylvania counties of Tioga and Potter. Small local rivers overflowed, washing out roads and bridges and flooding homes. Some of the oldest houses shifted off their foundations.  

(Photos/Courtesy of Charlene Smith)

Charlene Smith, a volunteer with The Salvation Army Service Extension Unit, lived in Addison, New York, at the time. She returned to her hometown of Westfield, Pennsylvania, in Tioga and saw what flooding had done to her old community. 

"I stood and watched the house that I had grown up in go underwater, thinking of all the memories I had in there. My parents had put so much work into it. It was where I brought my daughter home from the hospital," says Smith.  

Despite the damage to her childhood home, Smith turned her focus to the community of neighbors and friends whom she knew had stayed in Tioga and Potter. They had been through floods going back to the 1970s but had never experienced anything like this. 

When Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services arrived, Smith's team was already hard at work reaching their neighbors. They traveled back roads to access flooded areas in cars loaded with clothing, hygiene supplies, food, generators to pump water from homes, and fans to dry wet floors. 

"This is a very community-oriented place to live," says Smith. "Organizations like the Harrison Valley Fire Department were crucial to the cleanup efforts. As soon as people could leave their homes, they went straight to check on others. People who had been the helpers in the past were now the recipients of that same help. 

"It was physically and emotionally draining. We would all work until nighttime, then go home, and wake up the next day to come right back, still sore from the day before." 

The faces of service 

Smith credits Captain Betty Ellen Barrett, corps officer in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, and Alyce Smith, a former Salvation Army representative in Coudersport, Potter County, with introducing her to volunteering for the Army years earlier.

"I was aware of The Salvation Army and the services, but I wasn't aware of the spiritual healing and support that they brought with them," says Smith.  

Lucy and Frank Morseman attended the same church as Smith and had heard her speak about volunteering. The three of them became the faces of The Salvation Army in Potter County during the COVID-19 pandemic. Together, they helped build a coalition of residents, out-of-town volunteers, and companies that could donate products so people wouldn't have to leave their homes.  

"Getting goods and supplies to families in places like Potter County is not like in, say, Philadelphia," says Lucy Morseman. "There's not even a Walmart in Potter County. It only has a Dollar General."  

Local dairy farmers were being forced to dump milk intended for schools that were now closed, but they still had to feed their cows. 

To help feed people who had never received food donations or visited a food bank in their life, the team relied on connections and relationships built in the community. For example, a farmer who sold certified raw milk agreed to bottle it in half-gallon containers and sell it to the Army at a discounted price for distribution. 

"Many people didn't even know that The Salvation Army had a presence in Potter County," says Smith. "But those same people who kept coming back for help also came back after COVID-19, asking how they could help the Army." 

Same goals 

Smith remains active in programs such as The Salvation Army's Angel Tree at Christmas. In that ministry, she gets support from the bikers of the Ulysses American Eagle Motorcycle Club. They assisted with food deliveries during COVID and now take part in the Army's toy distribution efforts. A former motorcycle rider herself, Smith has praised the group as a local organization eager to serve its community.  

"In the years we've known her," says Frank Morseman, "Charlene has just gotten smarter and better at serving and volunteering. But her goals are the same as they were all those years ago. She organizes, and she wants to help others without thinking of herself." 

Through The Salvation Army, she has been able to do just that. One can be sure that during the next disaster event or crisis in Potter County, Charlene Smith will be present in some way, bringing together neighbors from every corner of the community to help or be helped.  

"I volunteer for The Salvation Army because I could never give back enough for what they've done," says Smith. "It's the organization that arrives, and the first thing they ask is 'What can we do for you?'"