New leadership for Salvation Army Ocala

Majors Melissa and Jason Smith are the new Corps Officers for Salvation Army Ocala. [Photo by Andy Fillmore/Ocala Gazette]

Incoming Salvation Army Majors Jason and Melissa Smith want to keep the Ocala operations shining as a beacon of hope for people on their worst day.

“People don’t come here on their best day. We want to help the outcast, the lost and the down and out,” Jason Smith said in a recent interview.

The Smiths, married for 21 years, transferred from Savannah, Georgia, and took command of the Ocala Salvation Army operations as Corps Officers on June 23, according to an online Salvation Army USA Southern Territory Appointments Announcement. Majors Phillip and Lynn Irish, the outgoing Ocala leaders, were assigned as Corps Officers to Vero Beach as of the same day.

Jason Smith said he and his wife will focus on the homeless, the shelter and the needs of the community. Jason, 40, a native of Henderson, North Carolina, is a fourth generation Salvationist, the name of the Salvation Army’s religious denomination. He said he lived a block from a Salvation Army location as a youth.

He said his family was “working poor” and that the entire town struggled when the cotton mills closed down. The primary employers were the local hospital and Walmart.

Jason began service with the Salvation Army right out of high school at age 18 and soon served as a Christian education director and attended Evangeline Booth College in Atlanta, Georgia, where he met Melissa.

The couple met and married in 2004 and both were ordained as Salvationists in 2007. The couple’s first operation assignment was in Easley, South Carolina. Later assignments included Rome, Georgia and Fayetteville, South Carolina, which had 120-bed emergency and domestic violence and AIDS units.

The Smith’s last assignment was the Savannah facility and Jason also served as incident commander for statewide disaster response in Georgia. He has responded to help victims following several hurricanes.

The Ocala Salvation Army, serving here since 1927, operates out of two main facilities: the administrative center at 2921 NE 14th St. and the Center of Hope at 320 N.W. 1st Ave. The administrative center includes a chapel, administration offices and youth and adult ministries. Adjacent to the center is the 65-unit Evangeline Booth Garden Apartments complex for low-income qualified seniors.

The downtown Center of Hope outreaches include the 104-bed unit that can add 40 beds for emergency weather days and additional beds in coordination with local emergency management. The work includes collaborations with local agencies to provide mental health and anger management counseling, a workforce connection component, community feeding and spiritual counseling.

Ocala Tiny Tot Daycare is also located at the Center of Hope. The outreach also operates a thrift store at 120 NW 10th St., Ocala.

A post on the Salvation Army of Ocala Facebook page states that 52,879 meals were served at the Center of Hope last year and 738 families received groceries.

Jason Smith sees Ocala’s homeless population as a “significant” number of people, and he would like the annual Department of Housing and Urban Development census estimate of the homeless be as “accurate as possible.”

The 2025 HUD estimate count of sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons countywide in 2025 according to HUD figures available at myflfamilues.com was 391 people.

When asked about the Marion County Public Schools published count of about 1,600 students who have no stable nighttime residence and are considered homeless, as explained on marionschools.net, Smith pointed to Salvation Army programs that help the working poor who may be “one paycheck” away from financial crisis.

The Ocala Salvation Army announced on May 27 that the expandable 104 bed emergency shelter in the Center of Hope might suspend or limit operations “for up to a year” because the shelter had reached a “financial break point.” An “Ocala Gazette” article indicated “drawdowns on reserves” had reached about $1 million over the last several years.

Smith said the shelter costs about $1,400 daily to operate.

A June 4 “Gazette” article indicated a $25,000 donation had been received and stated that an announcement had been made that the facility, which sheltered 1,165 people in 2024, would remain open through Labor Day.

Another concern here has been a call for a “low barrier” emergency shelter for the homeless in need of an immediate place to sleep.

“We are not a low barrier shelter, we do some screening for violent felons and those convicted of sex crimes,” Smith said. He added that the Salvation Army will collaborate with help agency partners to assist applicants who may not qualify to stay at the Center of Hope shelter.

Ocala City Councilman and Salvation Army of Ocala Board Member Jim Hilty Sr. was first impressed by Jason Smith’s youthful attitude but feels the major came to “the hot seat” here with issues to resolve

Hilty plans on introducing the Smiths to city leaders like the mayor and city manager and local organizations.

“The Smiths are determined not to close the shelter,” Hilty said.

Hilty feels that with the Smith’s combined experience and understanding of Salvation Army operations and its mission, they can keep the Ocala location “on the straight and narrow.”

The organization relies on donations and a “Christmas in July” outreach overseen by retired Major Forrest McIntyre, with the organization’s signature red kettles and bell ringers, raised $10,875 for the Center of Hope.

Both men wanted to remind readers that the seasonal Red Kettle drive and Angel Tree outreaches are coming up in a few weeks.

McIntyre also noted that in addition to financial support, the nonprofit always needs volunteers.

To learn more, call (352) 629-2004.

Red Kettle Drive coordinator Forrest McIntyre, a retired Salvation Army major, wants to remind people that the annual kettle and Angel Tree drives are coming up in a few weeks. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette file photo]