By Adam Meyer

The Salvation Army Family store benefits from Quincy University students who help unload and sort donations to the store. The store’s donations are made primarily from the Quincy community, these donations are then sold and the money is given back in a way to clients that come to the Salvation Army Emergency Shelter seeking help. When clients enter the emergency shelter they have options to improving their quality of life.

“It’s a free service for them, we provide supplies for food, supplies for hygiene, for all of their needs when they are here. Sometimes when we have extra money available we will pay for their deposit for their first month’s rent to get them back into housing,” Regional Social Services Director Heidi Welty said.

The Emergency Shelter can hold from 12 to 16 clients at one time for a total of 30 to 60 days, during this time workers help the clients get back on their feet. All of these services are free for homeless people and families to receive the care they need. Each client has a different story and the workers at The Salvation Army allow themselves to be open and willing to work with these people.

A majority of the clients come into the shelter without any social security or identification cards so it is harder for them to find and receive a job. Workers help put funds together to make sure that these clients get these pieces to their life and allows for them to go out and attempt to get jobs and receive a better lifestyle. For some clients a rough past allows for mental instability, this is where employee’s like HMIS Assessment Coordinator Meg Woods are there for.

“I think genuinely caring about someone, they haven’t had that for a minute and I feel like I kind of bring that to the table where we take care of these things so we can move on. (The staff) are here so they can get the basic things that they need,” Woods said.

Donations are a huge part of the process, because with these donations the money goes back to the facilities that helps with the care of the clients. This money comes from the shoppers of the family store.

“Some people don’t realize when they are donating that no matter how small or how large an item is, it all filters down making someone’s life good,” Welty said.