Wisdom From History

Find a Need and Fill It
One day in 1865, William Booth stopped in front of The Blind Beggar, a tavern in East London, and read aloud a passage from a hymn.
The customers began jeering, then someone threw a rotten egg at the preacher. With yolk dripping down his face, he paused, then continued. He said a prayer, and moved on.
Being a traveling preacher wasn’t easy. But Booth (1829-1912), who’d decided 16 years before to try to save as many souls as possible, was determined to reach his goal. As he kept walking, he saw drunken 5-year-olds hanging around tavern doorways, mothers giving their babies beer, and men fighting.
“In July 1865, this city of 3 million souls numbered more than 100,000 paupers,” wrote Richard Collier in The General Next to God. “Three wet days saw 30,000 street vendors on the brink of starvation.”
Unlike most, Booth wasn’t repulsed by the sights and sounds of the poverty-ridden streets. He decided he’d found his calling; he wanted to help these stricken people.
That determination led him to form the Salvation Army, which now works in more than 100 countries, collecting donations for the needy and providing community services and outreach.

– Nancy Gondo
(Quoted from “Booth's Army Fought Poverty,” Investors Business Daily.)