Metro Detroit home to Salvation Army's only legal clinic

For 25 years, the Salvation Army has fought for the vulnerable and disadvantaged in the courtroom and for life. 

You may know the Salvation Army for the second-hand shops throughout the country or the red kettle this time of year. But that red kettle is just the start of the organization's massive fundraising campaign every year. Funds that provide legal services for people in Metro Detroit - the only one of it's kind for the Salvation Army.

The William Booth Legal Aid Clinic has been providing legal help to people who need it most for 25 years. The clinic helps people at or below the poverty guidelines, those needing assistance with family law, landlord-tenant issues, people facing evictions and homelessness, debt, expungement.

"There's a huge population within our community who have legal issues that are impacting their day to day lives and they're not able to afford legal assistance," said Rebekah White with the clinic.

People like Walter Galloway who had some family issues and needed help to get his kids in a better situation.

"They looked further into the situation and went to court with me back-to-back and phone calls and everything worked out right," said Galloway.

Galloway says even when it felt like he wasn't making progress, the attorneys at the Salvation Army were still watching out for him.

"They call and check up on you. They call you in the middle of the night (and say) how are you doing? Any time you're feeling rough, they give you a phone call (and say) it's going to be okay, everything's going to work out," he said.

The clinic began in 1994 when founder Robert Dickman partnered with the Salvation Army to provide services for their clients. It was eventually named for the founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth. It a quarter of a century, the expansion has been huge.

"I think in our first year he helped about 140 clients get legal assistance and in 2018 we helped over 1800 people," said Clinic Director Amy Roemer. 

To find out more information about the clinic and see if you qualify for help, click here.