After car crash, Hansens doing well

Sat, Jun 27, 2009

Hoping to set the crutches aside after several months, Debbie Hansen — a former Salvation Army pastor with her husband, Ralph — is doing well with a healing crushed ankle.

She was injured in a collision of several vehicles on a slippery highway in April. The medics fastened a large metal shield to hold the ankle fractures together and the bones are growing stronger by the day.

Ralph, the driver of the car, was not hurt.

The couple with 32 years of Salvation Army service attended the annual Little Pine Island Camp dinner for advisory board members Monday night. Maj.

The Hansens — natives of Clinton, Iowa — served in Grand Haven four years until they were transferred to another corps nine years ago. They were active in the project for purchase of houses on Ferry Street for needy families, where today there is just one temporary vacancy.

Ralph Hansen is divisional secretary at the Grand Rapids headquarters that serves more than 30 Salvation Army corps and churches from West Michigan to Northern Indiana.

Their son, Stephen, was commissioned as a lieutenant on his June 14th birthday. He serves at Albert Lea, Minn.

Stephen's sister, Tabitha, and her husband, Oliver Knuth, are officers in Des Moines, Iowa.

Curtis Britcher reported there were 132 kids attending the second weekly camp session this week. Many had never been to a summer camp before and will be among a thousand children to enjoy Little Pine Island Camp this summer. It is one of eight summer camps in Michigan and a total of 50 in the United States.

Britcher was speaking to a hundred advisory board guests and Salvation Army officers who appreciate the help of some 10,000 volunteers. More than 30 youths attending camp sang several numbers for special music.

Capt. Jeff Horn, divisional music and gospel secretary, played a trumpet duet with his daughter and gave the benediction. The welcome was by Maj. Susan Bukiewicz and Maj. Mary Wood offered the opening prayer.

The Salvation Army purchased acreage for the camp in 1926. The present modern Camp Center seats 400 on its upper main floor, and can handle another 200 at the ground level for music classes and craft work.

"Many of the kids want to know more about God and some never heard of him before," said Maj. Ralph Bukiewicz, the divisional commander. "We do things here daily that change lives, and tell them about Jesus and His love."

During the year, some quarter-million people attend Salvation Army church services in West Michigan; and hundreds make decisions for Christ, officers pointed out.