Jefferson City Salvation Army looking to remodel in response to a rise in evictions

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

After 20 years of serving the Jefferson City community, the Salvation Army is looking to remodel its shelter to better serve the communities needs.

"We have a shelter thats over 20 years old it was built in 1999 and its really held together with prayer and duck tape," said Captain Justin Windell, the Salvation Army's CORPS Officer.

Windell said the shelter is seeing more and more families need a place to stay, which all starting in 2019 when a tornado hit the city.

After the pandemics moratorium ended last year, the shelter saw an even larger increase in the number of families in need.

"We're one of the only agencies that stayed open and never shut our doors during the pandemic. One of the things we are constantly seeing, like I said, is just more and more families using our shelter," Windell said.

Last year alone, the shelter had over 8,000 bed nights.

In March, the shelter had to open its cot program for people needing to stay the night due to the increased need. Also during March, the cot program served around 300 people.

The Salvation Army has asked both the city and county for a combined $3.5 million dollars from its American Rescue Plan Act funds to remodel the shelter.

The shelter is looking to add four family-size rooms with five beds per room adding 20 beds to the already 31 bed shelter.

It's also looking to remodel the shelter by moving the food pantry and the social services center to the basement to give the people using the shelter more privacy.

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