The Salvation Army launches their Hope Lives Here campaign to serve more families and individuals in need.

With the new year upon us, the mood has gone from thankfulness and gift-giving to a time of introspection and self-improvement. While the season of giving has wrapped up for most people, it has not and will not stop for The Salvation Army in Jefferson City.

“This is the right project at the right time,” says Ken Theroff, chair of the Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce. “We’ve never had an opportunity like this where everything is lining up: the location, the partnerships, and the community support. It’s exactly what we need to take Jefferson City to the next level.”

Demand for their services has been at an all-time high, whether it be a break from the cold, a hot meal, or a warm place to stay the night. The shelter is often at or over capacity, filled with people who need support. Many of those people have been families.

Since 1899, The Salvation Army has served Jefferson City, continuously adapting and growing to meet the community’s needs. In order to further that mission, they have launched the Hope Lives Here campaign: A $6.5 million effort to renew and expand their facility so that they can add a family wing, increase overall shelter capacity, create a new client-choice food pantry, expand case management and support services, and add a dedicated study area for school-aged children. This family wing will add four family rooms, each with private bathrooms, and will increase the facility’s overall capacity by 31 beds.

One person who would benefit from the additional family wing is a woman named Starlight. After her husband passed from kidney failure, Starlight suddenly became the only source of income for herself and her three children.

“I ended up with a lot of debt on my own,” she explains. “Trying to survive in a single-income household is really hard, especially when just all of a sudden the carpet was pulled out from underneath us.”

Starlight found The Salvation Army after she and her children were evicted from their apartment and were no longer able to stay in hotel rooms; however, it wasn’t until two to three months later that they were able to stay in the shelter.

“There’s a big gray area for my situation,” she says. “I have a decent job, and I work full-time. Even here, it’s hard because the current system isn’t designed for homeless families.”

One of the primary goals of the expanded family wing is to help address this need and, ideally, begin to close the gap that the directors know exists.

“One of the biggest reasons why I wanted to share our story of what we do here is because I think that people have a misconception about who lives at the Center of Hope, and I think that they don’t know what kind of work goes into it,” says Melinda Jennings, The Salvation Army of Jefferson City’s director of development. “The people in this building are really going through some hard things.”

Another resident at The Salvation Army is Omar, a single father of three daughters. After picking up everything and leaving Texas to be with his girls, Omar found himself with no job and nowhere to live. Another wing in the facility dedicated to more families like Omar’s and Starlight’s would ensure additional resources and opportunities for families in need. The children would have their own bathrooms to get ready for school, as well as an area to do schoolwork and play with other kids.

The Salvation Army has assisted more than 3,000 struggling individuals in 2024 alone. Men, women, and children need a safe space to sleep and be supported, and they deserve more. After the groundbreaking of the Hope Lives Here campaign in January, the anticipated completion of the project is scheduled for end of November 2026.

Residents of Jefferson City can continue supporting The Salvation Army with clothes, food, and monetary donations to fill immediate needs.