(La Porte County, IN) - The Salvation Army of Michigan City and The Salvation Army of La Porte will operate under one leadership.

 

Majors Dale and Becky Simmons, who have served as Corps Officers at the Michigan City branch since 2018, will assume leadership of both locations beginning September 1.

 

Majors Charles and Katie Pinkston of La Porte will relocate within the Salvation Army to the eastern part of Indiana serving Muncie and Richmond.

 

In some cases, Mrs. Simmons said not every Salvation Army branch can have its own leaders anymore due to manpower shortages.

 

"We don't have as many people who are officers as there used to be and you just need to streamline those that we have," she said.  

 

The Michigan City Salvation Army serves Michigan City while the La Porte branch serves La Porte and the rest of the county.

 

Mr. Simmons said they will take time in the coming weeks getting to know the La Porte operation to better position themselves for serving all county residents in need.

 

"We don't want to say we're coming in and changing things because that is not what we're doing.  We're just overseeing the boat and seeing what we can do to cover the needs of the whole county," he said. 

 

He also said they're going to be transparent in the coming weeks and months.

 

"We recognize that there are still many unanswered questions, and we are committed to keeping the community informed by sharing updates throughout the transition process,” Mr. Simmons said.