Submitted photo Majors Mark and Stephanie Larrick, corps officers with the Salvation Army, have been with the organization for 18 years, having served multiple communities before coming to East Liverpool several months ago.

EAST LIVERPOOL — Majors Mark and Stephanie Larrick, corps officers with the Salvation Army, have been with the organization for 18 years, having served multiple communities before coming to East Liverpool several months ago.

Mark is originally from Cumberland, Ohio, and Stephanie is a Zanesville, Ohio native.

“We’ve been in East Liverpool for three months and I think it’s a beautiful place,” Stephanie said. “I think it’s gorgeous and I think there are beautiful people with big hearts that do great things. It feels like home.”

When speaking at the East Liverpool Rotary meeting on Oct. 18, Stephanie said she was asked to reveal a secret about herself, which she did.

According to Stephanie, Zanesville, like East Liverpool, is also kind of a pottery town. While over the past three months in East Liverpool she has developed an appreciation for Homer Laughlin and all things Fiesta. Her original pottery love was Nelson McCoy.

Her father in the 1960s was a window dresser for Nelson McCoy and so her collection of Nelson McCoy pottery is currently larger than her collection of Fiesta. She noted she is working on that, though.

After revealing her secret, Stephanie presented some facts on the Salvation Army to the East Liverpool Rotary members.

The Salvation Army is a church and during any given week, Sunday School services and church services are held. Bible studies are held every Monday night and Tuesday nights are youth night. The organization also offers a nursing home ministry along with a woodwind ministry and a men’s club.

During the program year 2021-2022, the organization served 8,029 people with 492 grocery orders. This is in addition to offer utility assistance, back to school vouchers aid with diapers and vouchers for school backpacks.

When asked about the former youth program, Stephanie responded that the organization currently does not have a tutoring or youth program and she wasn’t sure when that went away.

“We are trying to restart youth programs; we are doing bible lessons and musical skills right now,” Stephanie said. “From now until mid-November kids are building their own instrument and learning how to play.”

The East Liverpool Salvation Army is a United Way agency and is one of the oldest Salvation Army organizations in the country. The Salvation Army has been in East Liverpool for 138 years.

According to Stephanie, this holiday season the organization is anticipating helping approximately 200 families.

As of Oct. 17, 77 people had already signed up online for holiday assistance.

Stephanie noted that Mark reported when getting to the office on Oct. 18, when in person applications were being accepted for holiday help, there was already a line around the building two hours before the application start time.

Stephanie also noted that the kettle campaign kicks off on Nov. 18, and starting on Nov. 19 kettle workers would be out making some noise to help the organization keep helping people year-round.