The Salvation Army, Lower Eastern Shore will celebrate National Donut Day with free donuts at the Family Thrift Store in Salisbury, MD, on Friday, June 5, 2020, starting at 10am. Donuts will be available for the first 200 people.
Beginning in 1917, during World War I, approximately 250 Salvation Army volunteers aided American Soldiers serving on the front lines in France. Two female Salvation Army officers, Ensign Margaret Sheldon and Adjutant Helen Purviance had an idea to comfort soldiers with good home cooking using limited ingredients to fry pastries in their helmets. The pastries were called doughnuts derived form the term Doughboys a commonly used reference to World War I Infantrymen.
The Salvation Army volunteers were nicknamed “Doughnut Lassies” or “Doughnut Girls”, these women served countless pastries to grateful soldiers, traversing through the trenches to bring soldiers doughnuts and coffee. They also made history when they introduced the new pastry to the United States after the war.
The Salvation Army celebrated the first National Doughnut Day in 1938 in the city of Chicago to honor Salvation Army “Doughnut Lassies” from World War I. They began the holiday to raise funds and bring awareness to the Army’s social service programs during the Great Depression. The doughnut has become synonymous with The Salvation Army’s social services and continues to be a comfort food served by The Salvation Army to those in need during times of disaster.
To learn more about the Salvation Army, please visit www.salvationarmymwv.org or give us a call at 410-749-7771 ext. 100.