SALVATION ARMY HEAD BIDS ADIEU

Saying goodbye is always hard, but many Cape Girardeau residents will find it especially difficult when Capt. Elmer Trapp leaves town.

The head of the Cape Girardeau Salvation Army since 1988 will be transferred to Jefferson City at the end of June.

Trapp said the move will a be difficult one, because he his wife have become attached to Cape Girardeau and the surrounding area.

Since Trapp and his wife Sandra moved to Cape Girardeau, the Salvation Army has seen a lot of changes in both programs and facilities.

Over the past seven years, funds for the Tree of Lights campaign have risen. The annual fund-raising campaign has expanded its goal from $65,000 in 1988 to $125,000 in 1994. The money raised during the Christmas season provides one-third of the Salvation Army's yearly budget.

Trapp also spearheaded a building campaign over the past few years. After completing its $1 million capital campaign, the Salvation Army built a new building, which the group moved into in October 1994.

The building, constructed adjacent to the former Salvation Army post, was dedicated on April 23, 1994. It gives the Salvation Army four times the space it had in its old building, a former bank on the corner of Good Hope and Sprigg streets.