‘Salvation Square’ Rises in Ohio

The Learning Lighthouse will be a child care center and so much more—a shining beacon of God’s love.

The Salvation Army is building a large child care center in Mount Vernon, Ohio, but Captain Christine Moretz says it will be much more than that.

“Anyone can take in children to care for them and to meet physical needs,” Moretz says. “What we have in our building is the filling of the Holy Spirit, who lives and abides in our facilities at The Salvation Army.”

The Salvation Army Learning Light­house—a separate 13,270-square-foot building—will complete what is being called Salvation Square. It’s an entire city block of Salvation Army facilities that includes the existing church building. The new center will accommodate 112 children ranging from six weeks old to fifth graders, with nine new classrooms, a sensory-aware area, a kitchen, a gym and play areas, and administrative offices.

“Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’”

—Matthew 19:14

Preschool children will be in the building all day, Moretz says, but school-age kids will come for breakfast before classes begin, catch a bus to school, and then return in the afternoon before being picked up by their parents at 6 p.m. During the summer and school breaks, children will be at The Salvation Army all day.

A 2017 program study and a 2022 needs assessment by the Knox County Area Development Foundation both identified a lack of child care as a major problem. The 2022 assessment found that with only five licensed child care providers in the Mount Vernon area, 92.3% of those responding to a survey for the assessment said they found it difficult to find child care.

The problem is so bad that 55% of respondents have considered leaving their current job to care for their children full-time. Meanwhile, 58% said someone in their household is unable to work full-time due to a lack of child care. Another 1,822 new child care spots are needed in Knox County, according to the assessment.

Support rolls in

The Salvation Army in Mount Vernon currently runs an after-school learning center licensed by the state of Ohio, but the Learning Lighthouse will take that to a whole new level.

Shown under construction in January, The Salvation Army Learning Lighthouse, an all-day child care center, aims to open in 2026. To the left is the current Salvation Army of Mount Vernon Corps Community Center with a storage and laundry building at bottom.

“At The Salvation Army, children build self-confidence, and families thrive as a result of holistic programming. Every child deserves a safe and fun place to grow and learn,” says Zach Shoro, the director of the learning center.

Light the Day, a capital campaign started more than a year ago, is at 80% of the $6.25 million fundraising goal. Construction is already underway, and Moretz says the opening of the new building is scheduled for January 2026.

“This project not only meets the need for child care; it provides hope and help for parents working to make ends meet, and jobs for those who are dedicated to the care and education of our children,” Moretz says. “We strive to make sure every person we encounter has the resources needed to grow stronger physically, mentally, and spiritually.

“As we care for children and their families, we share the love of God with the joy of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit that is at work in and through us.”

Sharing Christ too

The plan is to connect families to “anything and everything that The Salvation Army provides here,” Moretz says. That means not only physical care but spiritual care as well, including everything from social services to worship and Sunday school, Vacation Bible School, Bible studies, and more.

“Anyone can take in children to care for them and to meet physical needs. What we have in our building is the filling of the Holy Spirit, who lives and abides in our facilities at The Salvation Army.”

—Captain Christine Moretz

“We are The Salvation Army, so naturally we’ll want to connect those children and families from the child care center to church and other things,” she says. “Child care is what may get them in the door.”

Let the little children come

Throughout the process, the Bible verses Matthew 19:14 and Proverbs 22:6 (“Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it”) have inspired Moretz.

“Those are certainly scriptures I go back to often,” Moretz says. “We want to plant seeds and show love to children, many of whom come from very difficult situations and don’t know what healthy relationships look like, or what love looks like.”

The Salvation Army, she says, has so many ways to speak into the lives of children and show them that there’s a better way, and that Jesus loves them.

Abiding light

Building relationships with the children and their parents, sharing in their struggles, and loving just as Jesus did is the goal, while providing a safe environment permeated by spirituality.

Sometimes that may happen outside of a formal church service. It could involve simply showing people how much The Salvation Army cares.

“That’s what we’re here for,” Moretz says. “That’s what we do. That’s who we are at The Salvation Army. That may involve sitting down with them for a meal and doing all the things that I think Jesus would do for the people in this community. We’re here to make a difference and influence children for the Kingdom of God.”

Five months later in June, much progress has been made. The Learning Lighthouse’s central courtyard will be a playground.

The building will be prayed over, and everyone will know “the Holy Spirit dwells here,” Moretz says.

“All of the children and families who will be coming in—not just in year one, but throughout the ages—the Holy Spirit has influence over them,” she says. “Many of them don’t know that, but I know in the spiritual realm, the Holy Spirit is here. If we’re following God’s mandate and the mission of The Salvation Army to love Him, and to love these children, they will be influenced for the better.

“We want them to grow in the Kingdom of God.”

And decades from now, she hopes, the children and families who go through its doors will remember The Salvation Army Learning Lighthouse not just as a building where they went to learn numbers, shapes, and the alphabet—but even more than that, they will know it as a place where someone cared about them.