When
she was born at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, her father wrote
her name on the forms; Loraine with one ‘R.’ He was
told that was not the correct way to spell the name, but he replied,
“She is not like the others, she is special.”
At five Loraine Medina, her mother and father moved from Manhattan
to Ponce, on the south coast of Puerto Rico, to be close to their
family.
Loraine wanted to be a veterinarian as a child. “In Puerto
Rico you can have as many animals as your father will allow,”
she laughs. Her laugh is a good laugh, filled with joy. She was
always bringing home stray puppies; once a blind cat. There were
always dogs, cats, hamsters and fish at her house. In college she
chose social service work over veterinary medicine because she didn’t
like math. She smiles, “I thought, you don’t need math
to take care of animals, they just need love.”
Attending a summer camp, Loraine became acquainted with the Salvation
Army at the age of seven. The Salvation Army became her family’s
church. At sixteen she had a spiritual revelation, “God was
saying I should dedicate my life to helping people through the Salvation
Army and I said no way. I wanted to make money.”
After college she went to work in the corrections system, “I
thought I could help somebody, make a difference in somebody’s
life.” She was frustrated at maximum-security facilities,
“lifers feel it doesn’t matter what they do, they’re
not getting out.” She became a parole officer and found it
better suited her, “You see people trying to do something
with their lives and their families.” After a ten year career
in corrections she was working in administration, running a prison,
making a very good living.
Alone one sleepless night Loraine began thinking, “Deep in
your heart, no matter how much money or success you have, you know
when you are in the wrong place. I felt an emptiness. I had money,
a great car, beautiful apartment and all these things, but still
I was empty. I realized I wasn’t doing what the Lord wanted
me to do. So I said, what do you want me to do? Show me, open the
door.”
Instantly doors began to open. Within three months she was in Suffern,
New York at the Salvation Army Seminary filling her emptiness. Her
friends all thought she was crazy but it didn’t matter, she
was happy.
Captain Loraine Medina now heads up the Salvation Army in Hudson.
It’s here she finds fulfillment by giving to others. The Christmas
season is of course her busiest time of year. You’ve seen
the Salvation Army Christmas kettles, the bell ringers, raising
money to help those less fortunate, but her work never really stops.
As a pastor, she conducts two Sunday services, one in English and
one in Spanish. Monday night she teaches Spanish to a group of adults.
Tuesday night she’s a counselor at a juvenile facility. Thursday
evenings it’s a supper club for a group of twenty kids age
seven to twelve and of course daily social service work is abundant,
providing assistance to people in the community. She’s also
responsible for sending twenty kids to summer camp this month, free.
“Last Christmas I learned there were a lot of working people
in our community who could use help so I decided to do something
about it,” she says. Captain Medina organized and opened the
“Friendly Kitchen.” Every Tuesday and Thursday from
11:30 to 1:00, with the help of volunteers from the Trinity Methodist
Church and donations from businesses and organizations, free meals
are served to twenty people. Loraine smiles, “I hope to reach
forty by Christmas.”
Last September 17, Captain Medina was called to duty in lower Manhattan
She worked in the morgue. “My first Christmas in the States
I worked everyday from 7:00 to 3:00 at the Salvation Army kettle
in front of the World Trade Center. On the 17th it was hard to believe
what I was seeing, it was a bad dream. What do you say to someone
who’s lost a loved one? I learned that often a shoulder is
what is necessary.”
Loraine recently attended the Closing Ceremony, “At first
people were silent, then someone in the crowd began to applaud and
suddenly everybody was applauding the workers and all they had accomplished.
It was very moving.”
“What’s your dream?”
“To see a bigger Salvation Army building, to do more for the
community, operate the Friendly Kitchen five days a week, take fifty
kids to summer camp, have more programs for kids.” The ideas,
vision and energy of this happy and delightful woman know no boundaries.
Her father was right she is special. “I’m going to stay
a long time in Hudson. There is a reason why I’m here, I have
a lot to give here.” She pauses and grins, “One day
when I retire maybe I’ll volunteer at a veterinary clinic,
when I’m an old lady that is.”
We’ll talk next time From The Road.
