Major Larry Bridger of Salvation Army Red Deer will be retiring as of Aug. 10. Bridger and his wife Marilyn will be moving to London, Ontario to be closer to their family. (Sheldon Spackman)

By Sheldon Spackman

New Beginnings

Major Larry Bridger retiring from Salvation Army Red Deer

Jul 24, 2020 | 10:34 AM

It’s the end of an era at the Salvation Army in Red Deer as after more than nine years at the helm, Major Larry Bridger and his wife Marilyn are retiring.

Larry says their time in Red Deer has been a memorable stop in their four-decade career together.

“We’ll look back at Red Deer and we’ll look back at a community that is a caring community and a beautiful city, but the support here from a financial stand point as well, has been absolutely tremendous. In fact, I don’t think we’ve been anywhere else where I’ve experienced the same level of support, and I’ve been to a lot of places.”

In addition to the many friends and acquaintances made over the past nine years, Bridger notes a pair of programming achievements he’s especially proud of.

“My wife and I had this idea that we would like to get a senior’s group started, and so that got started actually seven years ago now,” recalls Bridger. “That will be a highlight for sure. I was the chief cook and bottle washer for up until last fall when we finally got to hire a cook!”

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The Salvation Army’s School Weekend Meal Program is another initiative Bridger holds close to his heart.

“It started with a pilot project where we had 23 kids at one school, and it grew to 25 schools and 300 kids,” he exclaims. “That was an idea that came back from one of our staff who had attended a social services conference. So we said, ‘We’ve got to do this!’.”

Despite much change in the community and throughout the world over the past nine years, Bridger says none, however, have had an impact like COVID-19.

“The big change for us would be not being able to worship in our sanctuary, so we’ve had to resort to worshipping through Zoom meetings, we do that every Sunday,” says Bridger. “Our seniors group, we had to shut that down. Other things like bible studies we weren’t able to continue those as we were doing, and even the school program got shut down as well because the schools were closed.”

Clients are not currently coming in to the Salvation Army during the pandemic, but Bridger notes they are still findings ways to help those who need it.

“Our family services remain open but we’ve had to do it differently. Our bread distribution, our food hampers, we’re still doing that but we obviously had to put protocols in place to protect clients as well as our staff. We’ve had to close down our thrift stores, the one in Red Deer had to close down for a while and our one in Innisfail had to close, but now they’ve re-opened with a lot of precautions in place.”

Despite the pandemic, Bridger says the Salvation Army in Red Deer manages to help roughly 90 seniors each week, and between 60 and 70 families each month through their food hamper program.

“The Salvation Army is helping in the area of 300 individuals in a typical month,” he points out. “Christmas time, our hamper program, our Adopt-A-Family program, we generally have provided for around 240 families and some of those are seniors. The numbers are significant for sure.”

Bridger anticipates many of the Salvation Army’s programs and services to continue, but he admits that will be up for the new officers to decide.

“The incoming officers will be Majors Kent and Dena Hepditch,” says Bridger. “They are actually like my wife and I, they are from Newfoundland originally. So they must be OK if they’re from Newfoundland!”

With plans to spend much more time with his children and grandchildren during his retirement, Bridger admits Red Deer has been his favourite appointment of 11 different locations over the years.

“We just want to commend the people of Red Deer,” adds Bridger. “They are very caring and supporting, and not just us, but of a number of other charities. I would just say thank you Red Deer for the tremendous support you’ve given to the Salvation Army… we’re going to miss Red Deer for sure.”

The Bridgers will leave Red Deer for their retirement home in London, Ontario starting August 10.

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