Centralia’s Salvation Army captains will soon say farewell to Lewis County after more than seven years serving the local community.
Salvation Army Captains Gin and Steven Pack will serve their last day as the leaders of the Salvation Army Centralia Corps on June 30 and will participate in their last Sunday service two days earlier, June 28.
The couple and their family are relocating to Everett to continue their service with the Salvation Army.
No information is yet available on who will fill their leadership positions locally.
“We consider our time serving Lewis County a gift from God and are excited to see the next officers continue with the good work ahead,” Gin said on behalf of her and her husband Steven.
The Packs will host a farewell open house on Wednesday, June 17, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Salvation Army’s Centralia location. All members of the community are welcome to attend the event to say their goodbyes to the captains and their family.
The Packs arrived in Lewis County in 2018 and carried the entry Salvation Army rank of lieutenants. Before that, they served short stints in Seattle and Tacoma.
After arriving in Centralia, the couple reached their five-year milestone serving the Salvation Army in 2021 and earned the Salvation Army’s rank of captain.
According to Pack, it’s standard for members of the Salvation Army to relocate once every five years or so, but transitions depend on retirements, relocations, new members and other factors. The Salvation Army is currently seeing a wave of retirements from its ranks, causing a reshuffle of its members.
“Both Captain Steven and myself have been so incredibly privileged to get to serve Lewis County for over seven years,” Gin said. “We go with so much more knowledge and experiences because of the trust and care of those around us.”
While here, the Packs have helped lead the Salvation Army’s local programs, operating the local food bank and maintaining the urban farm that supplies it located on their Salvation Army property in Centralia. The food bank recently received a makeover making it easier to navigate for those using it.
The couple also helped operate the Centralia night-by-night shelter through the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic and participated in the continuity of care for addressing homelessness and housing in the county leading the county’s coordinated entry efforts until recently.
The Packs also offered significant support for Lewis County’s efforts to develop a new shelter on Kresky Avenue, which opened in October of last year and is now operated by local Salvation Army staff.
Beyond that, the couple has offered their service during a range of emergency situations over the last seven years, from recent flooding last December and the Goat Rocks Fire to the eviction of residents of a Centralia hotel and the clearing a large homeless camp, among other incidents.
