Salvation Army closing West End women and children's shelter, could reopen in October
The Salvation Army will close its Hagerstown women and children's shelter on Monday, April 1. But it could reopen later this year.
The organization announced the closing in a recent news release from Community and Donor Relations Manager Heather Wincovitch.
The shelter at 534 W. Franklin Street is closing because of "a decrease in financial support over the past few years," the release said.
"With a significant increase in operational expenses, a decision had to be made after a consultation meeting with the headquarters of The Salvation Army Potomac Division," it continued, adding that the agency hopes to reopen the shelter Oct. 1.
Like other nonprofits, The Salvation Army relies on donations and grant awards to operate at full capacity. The demand for services, however, has increased. "The number of people coming through the doors each day has more than doubled," the agency said.
The shelter provides emergency assistance to women and children in need. As of Monday, there were nine adults and two children at the shelter.
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'The only women and children's shelter in Washington County'
Shelter clients were told early about the closure, and efforts have been made to find other resources for them.
"The hard thing is and the sad thing is we're really the only women and children's shelter in Washington County, as far as I know, at this time," Wincovitch told The Herald-Mail.
"So it makes it difficult because if a woman has a child, they can't go to REACH and they can't go to some of the other shelters because they don't accept children. So as much as we hate it, we have to, unfortunately close temporarily until we can get the funding and donations to assist us, and operating funds overall, to open it back up."
To that end, Wincovitch said the local Salvation Army is embarking on a fundraising campaign called "Ray of Hope" to raise money for the shelter. A fundraising event is being planned for May 16 at the Beaver Creek Country Club.
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In the meantime, donations may be made in a couple of ways — online at the Salvation Army website, but Wincovitch said local donations will get reach the Hagerstown office faster if they are sent directly to The Salvation Army, P.O. Box 747, Hagerstown, Md. 21741.
The Salvation Army will continue providing meals at the soup kitchen, supplementary food resources through the food pantry, clothing vouchers and its after-school and summer camp programs for local youth and teens.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Salvation Army to close women's shelter, seeks funding to reopen
