No new funding, but Salvation Army prioritizes the safety of single women. The snarky side of me wants to ask how many women got raped, had sex with someone to have a warm place to sleep, gotten beaten or who knows what else. The space was always there . . . this should have been a priority a long time ago (to all the majors who have come and gone). The other side of me says, thank you to the staff who made this happen! Also, the county board is the one who denied this funding, Salvation Army is too nice to say it – I’m tired of being too nice (and we see where that has gotten me, but I’d rather be here than kissing butt.) Sorry I was a little slow getting this out!
3/18/16
Re: Increased Capacity for The Salvation Army of Dane County’s Women’s ShelterThe Salvation Army of Dane County offers this community’s only shelter for women experiencing homelessness. In the past, our capacity of 30 women per night met the need of the community. However, the number of women seeking the basic need of shelter is increasing and exceeds our capacity resulting in many being turned away each night.
Although all people from all walks of life are susceptible to homelessness, many who utilize our Women’s Shelter are experiencing a myriad of issues which make them some of our community’s most vulnerable population. More often than not, when a woman is denied from our shelter her only option then is to sleep on the streets exposed to the harshness and cruelty of what that may entail. Further, domestic and sexual violence is an immediate cause of homelessness for many women and in turn being homeless makes women more susceptible to violence. Our community’s domestic violence shelter (DAIS) is often full and as a result many survivors rely on The Salvation Army’s Women’s Shelter for sanctuary. Our shelter serves as an overflow domestic violence shelter. As well, vulnerability is increased for those who suffer from mental health issues and/or substance abuse issues when forced to sleep on the streets.In order to safely increase our capacity and accommodate more women in our community seeking shelter an additional staff member is needed. Due to budget restraints, additional funding was requested in order to hire this staff member. However, this request was denied and as a result we remained having only one staff member overseeing The Women’s Shelter and capacity had to stay at 30 women per night.
Part of The Salvation Army’s mission is to meet human needs and we are not able to do that if we are forced to turn women seeking shelter away. It was decided that even though we are unable to secure additional funding we would come up with a way to safely increase our capacity anyway. As a result, an additional staff member was assigned to The Women’s Shelter.
Effective immediately, our capacity will be increased to 45 women per night. We will now be able to accommodate the current need and allow for a safe place for both residents and staff.
Please note that The Salvation Army of Dane County relies heavily on financial donations to keep our shelters in operation 7 days a week 365 days a year. We did not receive any additional funding to increase capacity and doing so will put a heavy strain on our budget. Monetary donations would be truly appreciated and supplies such as hygiene products, sleeping attire (t-shirts and sweat pants), new socks and underwear, rolling suitcases, etc. are always welcome as well.
Please let me know if there are any questions,
Carly Sobye, MSW
Housing Coordinator
The Salvation Army of Dane County
(608) 250-2205
