A Life of Service: Larry Hostetler

A Life of Service: Larry Hostetler Reflects on His Years with The Salvation Army in Arnold

Larry Hostetler • The Salvation Army Arnold

As Larry Hostetler prepares to retire at the end of the month, those who have worked alongside him at The Salvation Army in Arnold say his impact will continue long after his final day.

For Hostetler, service has never been limited to one program, one building, or one kind of need. It has meant helping The Salvation Army become more visible, more active, and more connected to the people of Jefferson County.

Hostetler’s connection to The Salvation Army did not begin with his own career. It reaches back generations, to a moment when his father’s childhood home was destroyed by a devastating fire. The family lost nearly everything, including Christmas presents, and Hostetler’s grandfather told his children they were blessed because everyone had survived, but that Christmas would be difficult as they worked to rebuild.

Then The Salvation Army showed up with clothing, Christmas gifts, and other essential aid to help the family get back on its feet. That act of service left a lasting mark. In every generation since, Hostetler said, several members of his family have remained committed to continuing that same work for others.

“If it’s a human need, and we have the resources, we can meet it,” said Larry Hostetler.

That experience has helped him guide the Arnold location through some of its most important years, including the recovery from a fire that forced the pantry to shut down and left the organization with the difficult task of rebuilding a cornerstone service.

Hostetler said the fire was devastating at the time, but it also gave the organization an opportunity to make the building more functional. Before the fire, food deliveries had to be unloaded upstairs, moved into carts, taken down an elevator, and unloaded again into the pantry. Now, pallets can move from the loading dock directly to the pantry.

“They only have to unload once, it's half the work,” Hostetler said.

He is also proud that long-deferred maintenance has been addressed, including improvements to HVAC units, ceilings, paint, and other parts of the building. The result, he said, is a facility that is in far better shape and much busier than when he arrived.

“When I got here, the board said to me, ‘This building is severely underused,’” Hostetler said. “Make it busy.”

Today, the Arnold location serves not only as a place for assistance, but also as a community gathering space. The building has hosted board meetings, memorial services, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, Lions Club meetings, voting, and other community uses.

“He’s been a true visionary,” Dannette Davidson Assistant Director

Danette Davidson, assistant director at the Arnold location, said Hostetler brought vision and leadership to the role. She pointed especially to his work expanding service extensions throughout the county.

Those service extensions are designed to help The Salvation Army reach people beyond Arnold, especially in communities where distance can make it difficult for families to access help.

“I think that’s been huge, too, his ability to empower other people and encourage them to do the things that we need to do.”

Davidson also praised Hostetler’s leadership style, saying he has empowered staff and volunteers to step forward with confidence.

Hostetler described that philosophy simply.

“Don’t give responsibility without authority,” he said. “If you are going to give somebody a responsibility, give them the authority to do it.”

As he looks toward retirement, Hostetler said the strongest legacy he leaves is not a building project or a single program, but a team. Over the years, he has worked to build up people who care deeply about the mission and understand the needs of the community. For Hostetler, that team is what will allow the work to continue long after his final day.

“That’s the biggest legacy I’m leaving,” he said. "And, that's what my biggest hope is for the future: that this team will continue to be exemplary in what we do and how we do it.

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