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An emergency stop lasts a lifetime

2 April 2014
An emergency stop lasts a lifetime

Elizabeth entered Samaritan House as a client, but went on to become manager. (Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Wiggins)

When English nurse Captain Elizabeth Wiggins fled her troubled marriage to a short-term shelter, she discovered a whole new life of service.

With no family support network in Australia, Captain Elizabeth says when she entered The Salvation Army’s Samaritan House in Sydney, she owned nothing but the clothes she was wearing. She ended up staying for three years.

While she always had an inherited faith and attended an Anglican church, Captain Elizabeth says she found her true faith at Congress Hall and through the group discussions at Samaritan House.

“Samaritan House was a totally different world than the one I was used to, but I learned so much there,” says Captain Elizabeth about first arriving there.

“They used to run groups twice a day,” she says. “You could write any topic you wished on the board and we’d talk about it. Then the person running it, usually Major Jean Watson, no matter what the topic, would always bring it back to a scriptural base.”

Inspired, Captain Elizabeth became a Salvation Army soldier and threw herself into her work, which she says has changed many lives – including her own.

She has since been a territorial envoy, a manager at Samaritan House, and worked in aged care services and crisis shelters in NSW, Queensland and Singapore.

“I’ve worked in social centres with women and children escaping domestic violence. You watch not only the women, but also their children, finally start to find stability,” says Captain Elizabeth.

She finally retired last year, but still serves as a part-time wills and bequests representative for The Salvation Army’s Honoured Friends, a program for those who intend to gift a bequest to The Salvation Army.

Captain Elizabeth often makes personal visits to honoured friends in the Newcastle area, offering help to anyone in need. She says her work with donors is “a privilege”.

“Elizabeth has a great understanding of the work of The Salvation Army having been both a client and later working on the other side as a Salvation Army Officer.

It’s not surprising she has a deep understanding of those who are hurting and in need,” says Wills and Bequests NSW Director Glen Evans.

Comments

  1. What a beautiful woman and a wonderful story!

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