A Half-Century of Volunteering with The Salvation Army
Frank Stechey’s history of volunteerism with The Salvation Army goes back 50 years, and the retired dentist has no plans to stop giving of his time. During the 2022 Salvation Army Christmas Kettle Campaign, Frank expects to spend at least 50 hours ringing the bells at Christmas Kettle locations in the Hamilton area.
“It’s Christmas. It’s time to give back to our community and to the people who really need it. It doesn’t have to be toys. Sometimes you just need a nice meal to have on Christmas Day and The Salvation Army is there for that,” Frank says.
The importance of volunteering was instilled into Frank at a young age by his parents, who operated a small corner grocery store in their hometown of Windsor. A couple blocks away from that small store was The Salvation Army Grace Hospital, which was demolished in 2013.
Whenever anyone on the hospital staff was celebrating a birthday, anniversary, Christmas or other special occasion, hospital staff would purchase the food from Frank’s parents’ store. That is where he was first introduced to The Salvation Army and the difference the Army makes in the lives of others.
“My father always said, and we were always told, ‘You live in a community, and every individual should respect the community they live in. The same goes for any organization. If an organization can respect the individuals within that community, that respect is going to be given back,” Frank says.
He knows firsthand what it’s like to receive support from The Salvation Army, even though his career provided a comfortable life for him and his family. In 2001, Frank was the only Canadian dentist in New York City following the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Volunteering as a forensic dentist, Frank used dental records to identify those lost in the disaster and to help families looking for their loved ones.
Frank made three separate trips to Ground Zero to help identify victims, working as a team of four to help assist return as many as possible to their loved ones. His one regret during that time is that only about half of the victims were able to be accurately identified.
“The satisfaction is the fact that when you do a positive identification and the joy is that the family has closure.”
He says The Salvation Army was a constant and comforting presence for first responders, search and rescue teams and community agencies at the scene of the collapse. He never expected that he would be at the receiving end of assistance from The Salvation Army, which provided food, water, transportation and emotional support to those on scene.
“The only agency that was there 24/7 for the first responders was The Salvation Army. Whether it was 3:00 in the morning or 3:00 in the afternoon, seven days a week, they were the ones there.”
When Frank returned from New York, he exhibited symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Five weeks after his return, Frank decided to hang up the dentist drill, sold his 30-year Hamilton practice and retired. After a half-century of giving of his time to The Salvation Army, in both large and small ways, Frank says he will continue to support the organization for as long as he can.
“People do not realize what the Army does. I’ve seen what they do for the community. I could not have survived New York had it not been for the Army. I needed the Army then. When it is a personal crisis for yourself, who do you turn to? You turn to the Army.”
