HOT SPRINGS, Ark. — For the past two months, Allen Mitchell gladly traded a recurring nagging in his ears for a constant ringing in his ears.
"I wasn't doing nothing but sitting at home anyways," said the Marine veteran ringing a bell alongside an iconic Salvation Army red kettle outside a Walmart two weeks before Christmas. "I tell you, I was getting on my wife's nerves."
For Mitchell, wishing shoppers a merry Christmas and thanking them for their donations was a part-time job. The Salvation Army corps in Hot Springs developed the program as a way to get members of the area's homeless population taking the first steps toward improving their lives.
That population has a significant number of military veterans within it.
"They'll be wearing veterans hats, veterans emblems, different things like that," said Capt. Bryan Brinlee, the top officer in the Garland County corps. "Some of them use a certain type of language, and you can tell, they used to be in the military."
Capt. Brinlee is adept at identifying vets, even when it's not as obvious.
When they arrive, the Salvation Army has a tried-and-true plan in place.
"Soup, soap and salvation is known pretty much everywhere," he said from inside the chapel adjacent to office space for a social services, a food stand and one of two thrift stores in the city.
"Anybody that walks up to the window is pretty much our targeted audience, that is our ministry," he said. "Especially when it comes to veterans, or people that are experiencing homelessness, or people who have drug addictions or something like that, those are the people that we target in our ministry."
That includes food, clothing, detox and spiritual guidance.
Part of the reason Captain Brinlee serves so many, is because of what he calls a high degree of sustainability. Essentially, Arkansans are very generous and programs allow the homeless here to on many resources.
The Salvation Army figured out how to tap into a lot of them specifically for veterans.
"If you are a veteran or spouse of a veteran and you're in need any kind of need rehab, support mental health, shelter, please reach out to us so we can get you the help that you need as fast as possible," said Walter Zgleszewski, the disabled veterans outreach specialist for the state Dept. of Workforce Services.
Saying the two "just clicked" when they started working together about a year ago, Zgleszewski and Capt. Brinlee blur the line between church and state somewhat, but believe it's well worth it.
Often, they create a gameplan for a veteran or a veteran's family. The corps might help in a crisis, the state cuts through the red tape. The corps starts to help a vet with mental illness. The state sets them up treatment through the V.A.
They take pride in their reach and efficiency.
"They have services, I have the clientele that need the services," said Zgleszewski.
And like the end of "kettle season," for the Salvation Army the work to help them is just getting started.
"Starting the case management to be able to actually help somebody change their life," Capt. Brinlee said. "That needs to be the great investment that we make in Arkansas."