Keeping the Mission Young

by Hugo Bravo

During Lex250, the 250th anniversary celebration of the Battle of Lexington and the start of the American Revolution in Lexington, Massachusetts, Emergency Disaster Services (EDS) volunteer Sami Baghdady walked into one of the local school buildings being used as hubs for the event’s security. Inside the school cafeteria, federal, state, and local government groups had set up stations at each of the lunch tables.

“When they saw me wearing the Salvation Army shield, they stopped to talk,” says Baghdady. “One group came up to me and said thank you for the refreshments we were providing. I asked them with what agency they were working with. They happily replied, ‘We’re the bomb squad.’”

(Photos/Courtesy of Sami Baghdad)

Baghdady went back to a group of young volunteers (which included his own children and their friends) and told them to take a break. He introduced them to the bomb squad and other first responders and took pictures with them.

“Fun, social moments like those are important to include during volunteering, especially for young people,” says Baghdady. “If you can throw in some fun, those kids are always going to want to do more community service and know more about the mission.”

Baghdady himself met The Salvation Army in 1987, when he went to work for his first firm after graduating law school. His supervisor and mentor sat on the advisory board of the Worcester Citadel Corps, and after volunteering with him and getting to know the officers, Baghdady was invited to join as well.

“My supervisor stressed that the board needed young blood; everybody there was twice as old as me,” says Baghdady.

Six years later, Baghdady opened his own law practice in the Boston area. Not wanting to see a dedicated volunteer and board member go, the Salvation Army Divisional Headquarters in Boston asked him to join the Greater Boston Advisory Board.

Once again he was the youngest in the group. At Baghdady’s first advisory board meeting in Boston, a corps officer thought Baghdady was with the caterers hired to serve lunch, before he was introduced as their newest member. Thirty-three years later, Baghdady is now the third-most-senior member on the board. Bringing in “young blood,” he says, is still something that The Salvation Army needs to focus on.

“The Salvation Army Echelon chapters are doing this well now,” says Baghdady. “They’re showing young professionals, like I was, how the Army is making a difference in their own community, and beyond.”

In 2017, the Greater Boston Advisory Board sent some of its board members to assist in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. It was his first time in Puerto Rico, and Baghdady spent a week working in the warehouse, packing food boxes, and driving through dirt roads and hills where people could not leave their homes to get food. For Baghdady, the trip highlighted the difference between sitting in a boardroom discussing numbers about the people helped and being part of that help yourself.

“The lines of people who came for help were longer than you could see. The divisional commander said that this was their own 9/11,” says Baghdady. “Serving in EDS is unique, because you’re going to people who need you the most. It’s great to give someone a present during Christmas, but in a disaster event, what you’re giving can be a matter of life or death.”

A month after he returned, Baghdady’s daughter Lou Lou traveled to Puerto Rico with a group of the division’s young adults. When she came back, Baghdady says, she could not stop talking about her experience and the bond created between the volunteers.

“She got to see Christianity in action and the mission of Christ through The Salvation Army,” says Baghdady. “That’s what I want all young people to experience: to be involved, get their hands dirty, and watch the reactions and smiles of the people you help.

“I became a lawyer to help people and make a difference in their lives. I wanted to discuss their problems, work to find solutions, and at the end, hear them say that they feel better about their situation,” says Baghdady. “That’s what The Salvation Army does too.”