Sacramento councilmember’s family relied on Salvation Army. It ‘fills the gap’
Mai Vang grew up in a family of 16 children born to refugee parents from Laos that relied on the Salvation Army for help.
“My parents often went to the Salvation Army campus off of Alhambra, where we actually got a lot of our basic resources and sometimes food,” said Vang, a Sacramento City Councilmember who is currently challenging Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Sacramento) for a Congressional seat.
The Salvation Army helps people in a variety of ways. One way it does it is through an event to be held Saturday. The Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary, through the organization’s Del Oro division will hold the 20th Annual Helping Handbags fundraiser luncheon at William Jessup University in Rocklin.
In years past, these events have raised more than $100,000 at a time, helping fund a variety of programs. Shaline Jane, president of the Del Oro division of the Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary said her organization helps as budgets run short for the Salvation Army, which is a nonprofit.
“Every program and division usually will send in their request for things that are needed and their shortages and we’re able to give to that,” Jane said.
The way Helping Handbags works is that people gather donated, brand-new handbags ahead of time. There isn’t a particular brand of bag that’s favored and designs can vary widely. There’s been a birthday cake bag in the past as well as a gingerbread bag and telephone bag.
Around 150 volunteers help with the event.
At the event, the bags are auctioned off. Jane said that last year’s event raised $120,000 and that she’d heard that an event sometime before that raised as much as $170,000. Event organizers have set a goal of raising $200,000 from this year’s event.
The money raised can go to help fund a variety of programs, such as the Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary’s Women of Hope Closet. Franzetta Cheathon, chair of this program, said that it provides people with free clothing.
Cheathon said that she’d been a thrift shopper for years and had previously donated to Helping Handbags events before her daughter convinced her to join the organization last year. Cheathon went to Helping Handbags in 2024 for the first time.
“I was very, very impressed with the organization, with the way it was laid out, how the program went and… it’s a network of women,” Cheathon said.
Salvation Army is known for its willingness to help nearly anyone, with its adult recovery programs often taking people from the streets or the correctional system. Sometimes, though, the people who’ve been helped by its different programs aren’t who others might think, though.
Long before Jane became president of the women’s auxiliary , the Salvation Army helped her with food and clothing. Jane said she’d been a single mom who briefly experienced homelessness while she was pregnant.
Vang said that her parents didn’t have a lot of money and couldn’t always afford Christmas gifts. Instead, the family did its holiday shopping at Salvation Army, with Vang recalling that she received books from there.
“I was always incredibly excited every Christmas to go with my mom to the Salvation Army,” Vang said.
Vang said she also learned to play basketball through the Salvation Army, later playing point guard for a team at what is now Miwok Middle School in Sacramento.
She noted that the Salvation Army helped her family all throughout her childhood.
“My story is a story of so many working families in this region,” Vang said. “The Salvation Army organization fills in a gap that is direly needed in this region and so, (I’m) just incredibly grateful for the great work that they continue to do for Sacramento and for our region.”
If you go
What: The 20th Annual Helping Handbags fundraiser
When: Oct. 11 at 11 a.m.
Where: William Jessup University at 2121 University Ave. in Rocklin
Organized by: Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary, supporting the Salvation Army Del Oro Division
Tickets: sahelpinghandbags.org
This story was originally published October 9, 2025 at 1:45 PM.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Sacramento City Councilmember Mai Vang’s parents were farmers who sold their goods at the Sunday farmers market in Sacramento. Vang’s grandparents were actually the ones who did this.
