The Salvation Army Circuit

I’ve Been Homeless for 15-20 Years of My Life

Let that sink in.

Not “I experienced homelessness once.”

Not “I was briefly without housing.”

15 to 20 years. Over half my adult life navigating systems designed for people in crisis.

And through all of it, one organization kept showing up: The Salvation Army.

Food pantry. Shelters. Employment programs. ID assistance. Bus vouchers through Travelers Aid. Short-term work through Tend and Gig Pro sorting donations and organizing clothing racks.

For two decades, I’ve interacted with The Salvation Army in every possible role:

• As someone in need
• As temporary labor
• As a community service participant

And now, completing court-ordered community service hours there, I’ve realized something:

I never left the circuit. I just changed positions on it.

The Circuit Topology

Think of The Salvation Army not as a charity, but as a closed-loop system with multiple entry points.

Node 1: Service Recipient

• Food pantry access
• Shelter beds
• Employment assistance
• Document recovery (ID, birth certificates)
• Emergency travel support

Node 2: Temporary Labor

• Donation sorting
• Inventory organization
• Warehouse logistics
• Customer service (thrift stores)

Node 3: Community Service

• Court-mandated hours
• Volunteer support
• Program assistance

Node 4: Staff/Leadership

• Full-time employment
• Program management
• Organizational development

Most people experience one node and exit.

I’ve been cycling through Nodes 1-3 for 20 years.

And every time I return, the infrastructure recognizes me.

Not as “that homeless guy who keeps coming back.”

As someone who knows how the system works from the inside.

January 28, 2026: 32 Hours Complete

I just finished my latest shift.

The court ordered it. But it doesn’t feel like punishment.

The staff is friendly. Welcoming. I feel like I belong—not like an outsider doing time.

And that matters.

Because I’m a morale builder. I’ve always been a morale builder.

Elementary school. Middle school. High school. The Air Force. Amazon’s Associate Activities Committee.

Everywhere I go, I find myself building camaraderie and boosting collective energy.

The Salvation Army recognized this immediately.

The First Assignment: Trash Collection

Day one. Pick up trash outside the premises.

Simple task. Surface-level work.

But I approached it with an analytical and observant eye—not as a mundane chore, but as training.

Where does trash accumulate? Why? What does that reveal about traffic patterns? What systemic changes would reduce accumulation?

I didn’t just pick up trash.

I mapped the waste infrastructure.

The Second Assignment: Inventory Audit

Day two. A huge donation had just arrived. They needed it cataloged.

This is where the pattern clicked.

Just like I did at Amazon with the bathroom audit, I approached this inventory task with detail and precision.

Some people say I’m over-analytical. That I overthink things and make them too complex.

It’s a gift and a curse.

At Amazon, that detailed approach led to increased scrutiny and two write-ups in one day.

At The Salvation Army, the feedback felt… positive.

They seemed to appreciate the thoroughness. The care. The attention.

And that’s when I understood the difference:

Some systems are rated for the voltage I naturally produce.

Some aren’t.

The 20-Year Relationship: Why This Matters

Most people who interact with charitable organizations experience them transactionally:

• I need help → I receive help → I leave

But I’ve been in relationship with The Salvation Army for two decades.

I’ve received:

• Food when I was hungry
• Shelter when I was homeless
• Employment when I needed income
• Documents when I needed identity
• Transportation when I needed mobility

I’ve provided:

• Labor when they needed sorting
• Organization when they needed structure
• Morale when they needed energy
• Documentation when they needed clarity

This isn’t transactional.

This is reciprocal.

And reciprocal relationships have a completely different architecture than transactional ones.

Transactional vs. Reciprocal Systems

When I walk into The Salvation Army now, they don’t see:

• “Court-ordered community service person #47”
• “Former homeless recipient who might steal”
• “Temporary labor to exploit”

They see: “Fly, who’s been part of this system for 20 years and always shows up with energy and precision.”

That recognition changes everything.

The Human Infrastructure Insight

Here’s what most people miss about charitable systems, employment systems, relationship systems—all human infrastructure:

Longevity compounds value exponentially.

A single interaction has linear value: I help you once, you benefit once.

But a 20-year relationship has exponential value:

• I understand your systems better than someone reading the manual
• You understand my patterns better than someone reviewing my resume
• We both reduce coordination overhead because context persists
• Trust accumulates as a credit line we can draw on during crisis

This is why I approach relationships—all of them—for longevity, not transactions.

It’s why I don’t just perform at open mics and leave.

It’s why I don’t just complete assignments and disappear.

It’s why I document everything and maintain archives.

Because I’m not building transactions.

I’m building infrastructure.

And infrastructure compounds.

The Community Service Reframe

Most people see court-ordered community service as punishment.

I see it as another node on a circuit I’ve been traveling for 20 years.

And here’s the insight:

You’re doing community service every day—whether the court orders it or not.

Every time you:

• Help someone beyond what’s required
• Exceed expectations instead of just meeting them
• Contribute to collective benefit instead of just individual gain

You’re doing community service.

The court didn’t create the relationship between me and The Salvation Army.

It just formalized what was already there.

The Morale Builder Role

Throughout my life, I’ve found myself in this role:

Elementary school: The kid who made people laugh and feel included

Middle school: The one who organized games and events

High school: The one who broke tension and built bridges

Air Force: The one who kept spirits up during long deployments

Amazon: Associate Activities Committee member organizing poetry events and building camaraderie

Salvation Army: The community service participant they actually want to have around

This isn’t accidental.

This is architecture.

I’ve built an identity infrastructure that creates value in every system I enter.

And because I’ve been cycling through these systems for decades, the recognition compounds.

The Inventory Task: A Deeper Look

When The Salvation Army asked me to audit that huge donation, they were expecting:

• Quick count
• Basic categorization
• “Done” in an hour

I gave them:

• Detailed inventory
• Quality assessment
• Organization recommendations
• Accessibility optimization

At Amazon, this approach led to write-ups.

At Salvation Army, it led to appreciation.

Why?

Because the systems have different voltage ratings.

Amazon’s infrastructure is optimized for baseline compliance at scale. They need 3,000 workers to hit minimum standards reliably. Outlier performance creates friction.

Salvation Army’s infrastructure is optimized for maximizing donation impact. They need every item sorted effectively to serve people in need. Detail adds value.

Same approach. Different systems. Different outcomes.

This is why routing matters.

The Exercise: Map Your Reciprocal Systems

Step 1: Identify Your Long-Term Relationships

List every organization, community, or network you’ve interacted with for 5+ years:

• Schools/universities
• Employers (including past ones)
• Religious/spiritual communities
• Volunteer organizations
• Creative communities
• Professional networks
• Neighborhood groups

Step 2: Classify the Relationship Type

For each one, ask:

• Have I only taken from this system? (One-directional)
• Have I only given to this system? (One-directional)
• Have I both received and contributed? (Reciprocal)

Step 3: Evaluate Value Flow

For reciprocal relationships:

• What have I received over time?
• What have I contributed over time?
• How has my role evolved?
• What context persists across interactions?
• What trust credit line exists?

Step 4: Identify Compounding Opportunities

Where could you deepen reciprocal relationships?

• Which systems recognize your long-term presence?
• Which relationships have untapped compound value?
• Which networks could you serve at a higher level?

Step 5: Build Infrastructure, Not Transactions

Pick one relationship to intentionally develop as infrastructure:

• Document shared history
• Make regular contributions
• Maintain visibility
• Build context that persists
• Let recognition compound

The Transformation Principle

“Long-term relationship infrastructure beats transactional interactions every time.”

When you operate transactionally:

• Every interaction starts from zero
• Context doesn’t persist
• Trust must be rebuilt each time
• Coordination overhead is high
• Value is linear

When you build reciprocal infrastructure:

• Each interaction builds on the last
• Context compounds
• Trust accumulates as credit
• Coordination overhead drops
• Value is exponential

This applies to:

• Employment (Why internal mobility beats job-hopping)
• Education (Why alumni networks matter)
• Communities (Why showing up consistently creates influence)
• Relationships (Why depth beats breadth)
• Creative work (Why building an audience beats chasing virality)

Infrastructure requires patience.

But infrastructure compounds.

And when you’ve been building for 20 years—when you’ve cycled through every node on the circuit—when you’ve been both recipient and contributor, both student and teacher, both served and server—

The system recognizes you differently.

Not as a user.

As part of the architecture.

The Outcome: 32 Hours and Counting

I have 32 community service hours complete as of January 28, 2026.

But I’m not counting down to completion.

I’m building.

The Salvation Army isn’t just a place I’m doing time.

It’s a node on a circuit I’ve been traveling for two decades.

And every hour I contribute there:

• Reinforces 20 years of reciprocal relationship
• Adds to my documented track record
• Demonstrates my ability to add value in any context
• Builds infrastructure I can reference in future opportunities

This isn’t punishment.

This is portfolio development.

And when you’ve been homeless for 15-20 years—when you’ve received help and given help, when you’ve been both served and servant—

You understand something most people miss:

The strongest infrastructure isn’t built from single transactions.

It’s built from cycles of reciprocal value exchange over decades.

That’s The Salvation Army Circuit.

That’s how you Control Your World.

Virgil OS Note

This article routes the same community service experience to multiple endpoints:

Court system: Documented completion of mandated hours
Personal archives: Reflection on 20-year relationship infrastructure
Awareness In Action: Case study in reciprocal value systems
Future opportunities: Evidence of consistent community contribution

The community service itself generates: Legal compliance: Required hours fulfilled
Relationship depth: Salvation Army recognizes 20-year presence
Morale contribution: Staff and fellow volunteers experience my energy
Content creation: Material for this essay and future work

Same hours. Multiple processing layers. Strategic deployment. Exponential returns.

This is infrastructure. This is how systems compound.

References

Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. Simon & Schuster.

Granovetter, M. (1973). “The Strength of Weak Ties.” American Journal of Sociology, 78(6), 1360-1380.

Mauss, M. (1925). The Gift: Forms and Functions of Exchange in Archaic Societies. Cohen & West.

Ostrom, E. (1990). Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. Cambridge University Press.

About the Author

Timothy “Fly” Wheels spent 15-20 years of his life navigating homelessness across Atlanta, Columbus, Houston, and Austin, developing firsthand expertise in resilience systems and reciprocal value infrastructure. He currently pursues a CIS degree at DeVry University (3.87 GPA) while working as a Waterspider at Amazon ORF3 in Suffolk, Virginia, serving as Executive Membership Outreach Coordinator for the NSLS DeVry Chapter, and operating Contruil LLC.

His Control Your World (CYW) framework applies network infrastructure principles to human decision-making, organizational dynamics, and creative workflows. With a background spanning military service, professional poetry (Def Poetry Jam, BET’s Lyric Cafe), and two decades building reciprocal relationships across social service systems, Fly treats every experience as infrastructure you can route, optimize, and scale.

Currently developing Virgil OS—a multi-model AI orchestration system for cognitive load management—and preparing for Amazon internal mobility to Process Assistant or RME Tech roles (April 2025 target).

Connect: LinkedIn | Email

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