Maj. Edward Hill is the Salvation Army divisional commander for the Hawaiian and Pacific Islands.

Q. The Salvation Army is very visible during the holidays, but there's more to the agency than just the red kettles. What is the Salvation Army all about?

A. The Salvation Army is a worldwide organization that was founded in England in 1865 by two individuals: William and Catherine Booth. He was a Methodist minister who really had a passion to reach out to the poor, the marginalized, the disenfranchised of England. He preached in the streets and identified with a particular group that eventually became the Christian Mission and that group evolved into the Salvation Army in 1878. It was primarily a Christian spiritual movement that sought to make converts out of prostitutes, drunks and the poor. Eventually it added a very strong social service arm as well. Today, the Salvation Army is in about 115 countries.

It's hard to define what the Salvation Army is and what it does because we do so many different things in so many different places. We have worship centers. We also do the social services, which would include things like food, clothing and shelter. We have daycare centers, we have senior housing, we run summer camps, we run schools in certain regions of the world.

Q. When times are tough like they are now, is it more difficult to raise funds?

A. We are impacted like everybody else. The Salvation Army has invested a fair amount of money in the stock market as a way to raise money, and so it's taken a bit of a hit like everybody else during the last couple of months.

But generally speaking the Salvation Army has found that even in difficult times, people continue to be fairly generous. I think they know that we are one of those groups out there that are helping people in need.

During these kinds of times when more people are out of work and the economy's slowing down and resources are stretched thin, we see a definite increase in the number of people that come to us for help. It's a challenge for us because we may not necessarily see the same increase in resources.

Q. Where does the money collected in those red kettles go?

A. The money that's raised through the red kettle is used to help people at Christmas because we have a spike in the number of people that come to see us for food, for clothing, for toys. If there is money that is raised beyond our immediate needs at Christmas, then it's used for the general operations of the Salvation Army.

Q. How did you get involved with the Salvation Army?

A. I was kind of born into it. My parents also happened to be Salvation Army officers, which is basically our ordained clergy. On my own volition, when I was in my early 30s, I decided that that was God's call in my own life so I entered the Salvation Army's training college. After two years of training, I was ordained as a Salvation Army pastor.

Q. Can you explain the Salvation Army's ranking system?

A. In the early days of the Salvation Army it was organized like a regular church. In 1878, William Booth decided that we would become the Salvation Army.

He basically organized the Salvation Army on a military model and pastors became officers and churches became known as corps and members became known as soldiers.

The Salvation Army does have a definite ranking system and most of the ranks are simply based on years of service. When you're commissioned as a Salvation Army clergy member, you become a lieutenant, and you stay that for five years (before becoming a captain). After 15 more years you ... become a major.

Eventually some officers become colonels, what's called a commissioner, and there's one general that commands the entire Salvation Army.

Q. Does the Salvation Army depend on the thrift shops for funding?

A. The Salvation Army does have a variety of ways that it raises money. The thrift stores are part of what's called the Adult Rehabilitation Center program and all the money that's raised through the thrift stores actually run that particular program.

We raise money for other programs in lots of different ways. We receive money from people who give in their wills, we receive money from direct-mail marketing. We receive some government funding for particular programs that are specialized. There are certain programs that we might get some program fees, such as our daycare centers. Sometimes we get major foundation support and corporate support. We just received a very large $100,000 donation from the Bank of Hawaii that will help us run our Family Services offices.

Q. How do you approach your job? As a minister, or as the head of a business?

A. We have an excellent staff of professionals that helps us in fundraising and public relations and accounting and so forth. That's one of the keys to the Salvation Army, is that we're able to attract good people. We're very proud of the fact that the Salvation Army has very low overhead compared to most nonprofits. When people give a dollar to the Salvation Army, about 83 to 85 percent of that dollar goes directly to providing service. This is a large operation.

The Salvation Army's budget for Hawai'i and for all of Micronesia is well over $30 million, so it's a significant responsibility and our approach is that we feel like we have a sacred calling to make sure that we run the ministry honestly, with accountability, that we carry forward the intent of the donor and that we be transparent in our transactions, and I think that God will honor that approach to business.

Q. Early in your career, you were sent to Hawai'i. You left and returned to head the division. Have you noticed any major changes here?

A. Probably the biggest program change for the Salvation Army is a few years ago Joan Kroc, who was married to Ray Kroc of McDonald's fame, left a very large gift to the Salvation Army to be used nationally to develop large community centers that she wanted to make a real difference in the communities that they were located. The Salvation Army was awarded one here in Hawai'i. It's going to be built in Kapolei. It's going to be a tremendous resource to the community. It's going to have recreational facilities, educational facilities. There's going to be a fine-arts component. There'll be a worship center. There will be ball fields, there'll be a social service component.

All of those things will make a difference in West O'ahu, particularly in Kapolei as it really emerges as the second major city of O'ahu in the next three to five years.

We're still raising funds. We have much of the money that was designated originally from the Kroc estate. We have a capital campaign that's going well. We're in the design and development stage, so we're working with contractors and architects to come up with a set of plans that we'll submit for approval to our headquarters. Once that's given the green light we expect to break ground in the summer of 2009 and complete the project within 18 to 24 months.