(COLORADO SPRINGS) — The Salvation Army has made the shift, in the last three months, to an all-family shelter that serves differently than most other shelters in that the numbers don’t tend to fluctuate as often nor with the bad weather.

“We have the ability to flex during cold weather to accept more families but the demand on us for families never increases. The last cold weather snap in December and this one, we didn’t get any additional families,” Captain Doug Hanson, El Paso County Coordinator for The Salvation Army said.

Agencies communicate with each other to make sure anyone who needs a place to stay in these cold weather events has one. The Salvation Army covers more programs than just sheltering families, like providing support emergency disaster services.

“We were doing the feeding at other temporary cold weather shelters that were set up, so we were providing meals for about three days,” Hanson said.

Meals are one of the ways the Salvation Army “flexes in cold weather times” according to Hanson. During these weather events the shelter like many others, won’t exit people out, which means getting clients out for the day. Because of this, the strain on resources grows. Hanson said, “We always have a need of volunteers, they’re always appreciated.”

The kitchen, with a staff of three, produces over 500 meals a day for the shelter and other organizations. Hanson said the biggest need is volunteers for various programs offered through The Salvation Army. From the after-school program to the food pantry to the shelter, volunteers are always needed to help out.

“All those different areas, we need volunteers. Always, every nonprofit has the pressing need of funds. Volunteers, donations and just helping keep people aware of everything The Salvation Army does,” Hanson said of the needs the charity faces.

The shelter was recently funded for a remodel, which is about halfway done according to Hanson. He also spoke of many other build projects coming to light in 2023. The Salvation Army will be launching fundraising to go towards building a new shelter as well. The food pantry is also looking to expand and funds will be raised for that too.

“Our food pantry is very small capacity right now, but the demand on it has tripled since covid and hasn’t let off. We had covid, had the supply chain issues, which drove more people to our food pantry,” Hanson said.

The Salvation Army also has support services for families and veterans per Hanson. “Our real focus for our sheltering and our support services is family and veterans and so we have many supportive services to gear for what is a struggling or homeless family member and the same thing for veterans.”

While the food pantry is confined to a smaller space, Hanson shared that the food it receives is sourced locally through grocery stores and includes perishables. He highlighted that February is National Canned Food Month and talked about what that means for the food pantry.

“In February, we are launching a massive canned food drive and we’re encouraging people to come bring canned food and if they can’t, they can go to our website and giver there as well and we’ll use those funds to help buy more food to fill the pantry,” Hanson said.

Hanson also made it clear that the charity could not contribute what it does without community help. “The Salvation Army can’t do what we do without volunteers and donors… we’re very thankful for them.”