After two years of service at The Salvation Army of Bowling Green, June 19 will be the last day for co-directors Capts. Mark and Sally Love, who are being relocated to Clarksville, Tenn., for a special assignment.

The Loves have helped with several projects, such as the renovation of the shelter to revamp the way it serves families and children by transforming the two lounge areas in its facility into two more emergency housing apartments, which added to the four units available for families. Also, they were instrumental in the partnership formed with the Housing Authority of Bowling Green to use a pair of two-bedroom apartments in the Summitt View area off of Double Springs Road for more transitional housing for families. 

Mark Love said the main thing that has changed since they’ve been in Bowling Green is the number of people that they’ve been able to help. The number of clients in the shelter have increased by 100 percent, he said. 

“We’ve added case workers, we’ve added a housing manager, we have really put our money into increasing human resources, increasing staff so that we can do a better job helping needy people in the community,” Mark Love said. 

He said that they’ve improved the infrastructure of the shelter, with many improvements in mind to increase the capability and capacity to help people. He said the key in making those decisions has been The Salvation Army Advisory Board. 

“We couldn’t have accomplished those kind of things here if we didn’t have the support of our advisory board. They oversee our financials, they oversee what we use our money for and they were all totally behind those kind of things and they always have been,” Mark Love said. 

Sally Love said they’re sad that they are leaving, but the work will continue and new officers will come and further the mission of the organization. She said different officers bring different gifts and talents as to what is needed at the time. The Salvation Army of Bowling Green has been here for 76 years and it has continued to serve people through each officer change, she said. 

“That’s what’s important, it’s not Mark and Sally, it’s Mark and Sally with the wonderful employees we have and the wonderful advisory board that we’ve got and the volunteers for our community all coming together to make this amazing thing happen in Bowling Green,” Sally Love said. “It doesn’t happen without all those components.”

The Loves are itinerant, which means they go wherever The Salvation Army needs them to go. They have been working with the organization for six years as directors and Clarksville will be their fourth location. The Loves came to the nonprofit looking for something meaningful to be a part of and to find a way to do ministry together. 

“Capt. Sally and I were in the for-profit world, corporate world or many years, and we didn’t even come to the Salvation Army until we were 57-years-old. So we had a whole life experience already,” Mark Love said. “So we came to a place in our life where we really wanted to do something important with our lives and really The Salvation Army was that for us.”

Board member Mac Jefferson said at the Loves’ final board meeting, which honored Bob Kirby with the Partner in Mission Award, that he was sad to see them go.

“While we’re delighted for the presentation and today is a great meeting and a great day, we’re a little bit sad as this is going to be your final board meeting,” Jefferson said. “Thank you for your services.”

Board member Jim Johnson jokingly said that grief counseling would need to be arranged to help members cope with the Loves’ departure. 

“Major, you’ll probably need to arrange grief counseling for us. We’re going through a period of grieving, but we’ll get over it,” Johnson said. 

Sally Love said it’s not about them, it’s about the work and they want the community to focus on that work.

“We were kind of free to respond to God’s call and be flexible to go where we need to be sent and that’s been a blessing for us. It’s just kind of a freedom to respond in ways that maybe other people can’t and to use our skills and talents that we’ve accumulated over the years to help people in need,” she said. 

— Follow faith/general assignments reporter Simone C. Payne on Twitter @SimonePayne or visit bgdailynews.com.