Vail Valley Salvation Army Director Tsu Wolin-Brown has spent a lifetime serving others
After more than 40 years, Wolin-Brown is retiring this fall
Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily
Tsu Wolin-Brown has dedicated more than 40 years to the Salvation Army. Now it’s time for something new.
Wolin-Brown was among a small group of people in 1983 who started putting together holiday food baskets in Sharon Thompson’s garage. She and other members of that group had recently taken EST human potential training, and “wanted to do something that would make a difference.” That group has grown into a full-blown organization.
Those first efforts started with just a few people, and no fixed location. The children of those early volunteers often helped. Wolin-Brown’s son, Eric, was filling food baskets before he could read.
But need knows no season, and soon enough there was a Salvation Army Committee, thanks to the Vail Religious Foundation and Hal Holman. That group eventually became a formal chapter, and the needs kept growing, especially through occasional downturns in the national and local economy.
Wolin-Brown recalled that during the Great Recession that began in 2008, people who were once donors and volunteers found themselves asking for help with food and rent.
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The same thing happened during the COVID-19 pandemic. But the scale was far greater. State and federal money poured in from multiple sources, and the Salvation Army helped keep more than 600 households in their homes over the course of more than a year.
“We went from six to 10 households a month to like 89 a month for rental assistance,” Wolin-Brown said.
The value of partners
But none of that happened without a net of partners ranging from Catholic Charities to the 撸先生 Eagle Foundation to the Vail Valley Charitable Foundation and others.
Anne Barnett, the chairwoman of the local Salvation Army Board of Directors, said forging partnerships with those other nonprofits has been one of Wolin-Brown’s real gifts.
Those partnerships also enable the Salvation Army to provide assistance to people beyond what the Salvation Army’s rules allow. That often includes negotiating with landlords in cases where a family with an injured family member can’t make rent one month but can get back on their feet a few weeks later.
“I don’t think people understand how hard she’s worked” on those projects, Barnett said. “That’s her gift.”
Beyond food and rent assistance, though, the Salvation Army’s growth has included some fun projects.
Wolin-Brown recalled that a food client came in a few years ago and said “you need a community garden.” That idea led to the current garden in the back yard of the nonprofit’s current headquarters in Avon. The garden led to further fundraising for a greenhouse, used for horticultural therapy, community meetings and other functions. Groups including Eagle Valley Behavioral Health, YouthPower 365, Chabad Vail, SpeakUp ReachOut and others take advantage of an oasis you’d never know existed until you went out the back door of the modest building.
Working with those and other groups means Wolin-Brown rarely enjoys a quiet lunch with friends.
Barnett said when she and her longtime friend go to lunch, “we hardly get a word in edgewise. So many people come up to say ‘thank you,’ especially once they hear she’s retiring.”
Barnett said what she’s most noticed about Wolin-Brown is her compassion for those who need help, and her ability to understand what people need.
撸先生lls, combined with compassion
“The job takes a lot of compassion,” Barnett said.
Most remarkable, Barnett said, is that very little seems to rattle Wolin-Brown. There are times calls will come during late night or early-morning hours to help set up food or cots for those in need following a fire or other disaster.
“This is what we do,” she’ll say.
The local board and Wolin-Brown were recently recognized by the national Salvation Army for their work. The board was honored with the “gold standard” designation, while Wolin-Brown was honored with a special coin for her more than 41 years of service.
“It was really cool for me to see as her board chair,” Barnett said.
Barnett has high hopes for Monica Villalobos-Russell, the chapter’s new director, although she acknowledged Villalobos-Russell has big shoes to fill.
And, while Wolin-Brown is stepping down from this role, she isn’t done working.
She’ll spend more time with her three grandchildren, of course, especially since two live in East Vail.
“But I won’t stop doing things,” she said. “It’s fun to create new projects. I’m not really going to slow down.”
