In your article Monday on the new dining hall at the Salvation Army’s adult rehabilitation center, you stated that they provide “free shelter, food (and) clothing” to men recovering from addiction. But one requirement of a stay is that each man must work roughly 40, essentially unpaid hours a week at the group’s recycling facility or for other Salvation Army programs. Seventy men times 40 hours a week times 52 weeks a year times $10 (minimum wage) = $1,456,000 a year in unpaid labor.
The Salvation Army avoids taxes and customary workplace oversight by calling this “work therapy,” but essentially it’s just work. Not to belittle the good deeds done by the Salvation Army, but it’s not exactly free.
Robert Eisenhauer
Portland
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