GREAT FALLS – Mindy Amaya was born on February 17th, 1958.
Her birth certificate says she has brown eyes, but when you look at her, you’ll see blue.
“I was beaten and blinded pretty much by my father,” Amaya said.
At the age of three, she was put in an orphanage. That’s when she was first introduced to The Salvation Army.
“Without Salvation Army’s help, I truthfully do not know where I would have been as a child,” Amaya said.
She recalls them picking her up and going store to store selling items, all to raise funds to pay for her eye surgery.
“Not only did they give me vision, they gave me hope,” Amaya said.
And most recently, Mindy found herself needing help from the Salvation Army yet again.
“It started about seven months ago that I started remembering. I started hating. I started feeling it all over again,” Amaya said.
Her eye complications were back. The Salvation Army was able to connect her with an eye doctor in Great Falls.
“I just want to reach out and let people know that you can re-live and re-live, but you have to put it aside because there are better days out there,” Amaya said.
And although hope can sometimes fade, Mindy says she rings bells to remind her of it.
“You get discouraged, I believe, to help build you stronger to get that hope,” Amaya said.
Mindy says her favorite part of the job is meeting new people.
“You know sometimes it’s just as simple as to stand and talk to that person, and when you see that person with pain on the inside and out, instead of tearing them down, come on, and let’s pick us up because we all deserve it,” Amaya said.
If you wish to get involved with the Salvation Army, click here.
Reporting by Elizabeth Transue for MTN News
