County commissioners award Salvation Army $500,000 in pandemic funding

Feb. 8—The Cleveland County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday presented the Salvation Army of Cleveland County with a check for $500,000, money the non-profit plans to use to bolster infrastructure and promote programs.

The money came from a pot of $55 million the county received from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to help it recover from the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To date, $1 million has been approved for Food and Shelter; $330,000 for American Legion Post No. 88; and $500,000 will be allocated to various veterans groups.

In total, $5 million will be given to nonprofits, not including those that can be categorized elsewhere. On Oct. 25, The Virtue Center, a nonprofit, was awarded $500,000 earmarked for behavioral health, not nonprofits.

On Dec. 28, the Board of County Commissioners also approved a service agreement with Kofile Technologies on behalf of the county clerk's office to provide indexing services using $2 million from the $55 million pot.

Commissioner Rod Cleveland attended Tuesday's event and said ARPA money was given to the county to distribute to alleviate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We appreciate the work the Salvation Army does in the community and the vision they have of expansion to help provide services to the needy in Cleveland County in Norman," Cleveland said.

Commissioners held several community stakeholder meetings to identify reputable nonprofits that would best serve those who live within the county's limits.

Cleveland said The Salvation Army of Cleveland County was selected as one that would be best served by ARPA funding.

"We took a lot of community involvement, what organizations do the best and are the most efficient, and The Salvation Army was always one of the top," Cleveland said.

"Salvation Army serves the homeless and transitional people. Their long history in Norman, since the 1800s and their long history in general, their organizational makeup and what they contribute and deliver to the community was an easy decision."

In attendance to receive the check was Maj. Charles Powell of The Salvation Army, who traveled from Oklahoma City.

"This is a very exciting day. It is a banner day for the Salvation Army of Cleveland County," Powell said. "The possibilities are great. The need in Cleveland County is great, and we are committing to using these funds to be able to empower and expand our capacity to be able to meet the needs of the community."

Currently, The Salvation Army of Cleveland County offers shelter for 35 people per night. That number dropped during the pandemic to comply with social distancing regulations. However, a few months ago, the Salvation Army was approved to run at full capacity.

"Within the last few months, we have increased that back to 35, and we are at full capacity every night," said Leona Chapman, director of social services for The Salvation Army of Cleveland County. "We have 16 beds for men, 12 for women, and we have two rooms for a flex room or a family room. Those are full every night and we turn people away."

Currently, The Salvation Army is in the early planning stages of determining how to spend the money to expand services, and it is still raising money. Administrators have not unveiled a plan of how received money will be used.

"I am excited because as a team, we have been moving forward looking at shelter expansion and getting a master plan together of what that looks like, what do we need in Norman to serve the homeless, and we have some of that started," Chapman said.

Powell said that he would like to see the expansion of on-site infrastructure.

"We are looking at a shelter expansion to be able to serve more people," he said. "This $500,000 will be good seed money to help us move things forward."

Commissioner Rusty Grissom said it is important for the county to support nonprofits to encourage recovery from the pandemic.

"The Salvation Army was on the front lines serving people in need throughout the pandemic and beyond and continues to expand services to meet emergency needs for individuals and families and to help people find their way out of poverty," Grissom said.