Allens returning to New York after six years leading local Salvation Army
NEW PHILADELPHIA (WJER) (May 10, 2022) – The leaders of the local Salvation Army say it’s bittersweet to be leaving.
Lieutenants Andrew and Amanda Allen were recently given their marching orders back to their home state of New York to take over as commanding officers at the Salvation Army in Middletown in late June. Andrew says he had requested to stay here since this has been their home for six years now, though he wasn’t so certain before arriving…
“The first thing I thought of was cornfields because we had never been to Ohio, and the night before the appointment service, Amanda was like, ‘What if they send us to Ohio?’”
He says he feels establishing the learning zone daycare program here was one of their biggest contributions.
“It didn’t start off as smoothly as any program that you want to start off, as smoothly as we had hoped. It’s taken years. It’s taken a lot of adjustments. It’s taken a lot of changes, but that’s something that we’re really proud of.”
Amanda says they’ll be moving to the salvation army where her grandmother served, but she’ll always remember New Philadelphia.
“We’ve been so blessed. We have wonderful church people who love our kids, love our family. The community is amazing here. We just feel so blessed to be here.”
The Allens are being replaced by Lieutenants Andrew and Lydia Behr. They’re originally from Mt. Vernon, Ohio, and are currently serving at the Salvation Army in East Liverpool.