Feed children instead of training them for war

[kratz]

That's cool. I had not heard of them. One thing a government could do is coordinate groups like this better, if nothing else to maintain a centralized list of groups and services available. One potential downside would be some numpty(ies) in the government trying to help and 'make them better'.

I was with the Canadian Red Cross for a spell in one of their regional disaster assistance teams. It seemed we were always in competition for the affections of area fire departments with the Salvation Army who were doing the same thing.

Sounds like you are suggesting Public Safety’s Humanitarian Workforce program.

References:
Beveridge, T. (2025). Strategies for Revitalizing the Humanitarian Workforce program [Masters Thesis, Royal Roads University]. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.16971.91688

Public Safety Canada. (2025, March 7). Advancing a Pan-Canadian Civilian Response Capacity. Advancing a Pan-Canadian Civilian Response Capacity

 

[quadrapiper]

...and this is in a system run on a shoestring and with often lacklustre support from the CAF.

That's where I'm coming from as far as "a nudge." Upgrade the local level to "bootlace," chin off a couple of decade-old layers of staff (Area and Zone; each area's got a Major, each Zone a Capt, with associated NCMs and Class A Area Elemental Advisors (also LCdr/Maj, and of late not even being hired per element)) and redistribute those pers funds (especially the Area and Zone officers; the NCMs and elemental advisors provide useful support) to any of a range of more training-focused models.

 

[Blackadder1916]

I was with the Canadian Red Cross for a spell in one of their regional disaster assistance teams. It seemed we were always in competition for the affections of area fire departments with the Salvation Army who were doing the same thing.

Thank you for your volunteerism.

My bias favouring the Sally Ann over the CRC goes back to serving in Germany during the Frigid Fracas (Cold War ) and from speaking to some veterans of WW2. Generally their accounts were usually about the Salvation Army being more willing to get closer to the front and having less of a tendency to accept payment for the comforts they provided. Us younger guys (now in our 70s) probably remember the Mobile Canteen showing up while on ex. I still have the small Swiss Army penknife (clipped to my key ring) that I bought at the Lahr Sally Ann near 50 years ago.

https://www.warmuseum.ca/articles/a-touch-of-home-the-war-services-of-the-salvation-army

The Second World War: 1939-1945 - Canadian Red Cross

The outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 returned the Canadian Red Cross Society (CRCS) to its roots as a wartime humanitarian aid organization, and returned it to the size and strength of 1918... and then some.

www.redcross.ca