This winter's cold spell has created a difficult dilemma for David Gilbert, director of the Salvation Army's Charlottesville branch. As temperatures have dropped, there has been an influx of the city's homeless seeking shelter.
For the past month, the shelter has been operating at an estimated 103 percent capacity, Gilbert said, noting that they have served an average of 62 clients a night compared with the typical average of 52. The shelter has 58 beds.
"We've been squeezing everyone in," he said, adding that the increased demand for beds caused shelter staff to reevaluate policies prohibiting overcrowding.
"We had to think about what we would do if turning someone away would result in his or her death," he said. "We decided that we'd put someone on the sofa," in violation of Salvation Army rules if necessary.
Gilbert said after the shelter took this position, Corps Officer Major Bruce Smith, who heads the Charlottesville Salvation Army, adopted the decision as official policy.
Winter has brought one important benefit to the shelter: Increased donations during the holiday season. But Gilbert stressed the importance of spreading the gifts throughout the year.
"Just because we receive a donation of turkeys in December does not mean we will be eating turkey on Christmas," he said. "We have a large freezer. We can eat turkey for Easter."
Everyday the shelter staff provides numerous services, last year serving a total of 1154 clients.
In addition to providing residents with a place to stay and meal services, the shelter provides case managers who work with residents to help them access community services and motivate them for success, and classes in budgeting, child care and job skills.
The shelter also provides emergency financial assistance in the form of rent payments to people who are otherwise self-sufficient but currently are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
Additionally, the shelter runs a transitional housing program that provides apartments to residents for reduced rents. The transitional housing program is particularly attractive to families because it is the only program in which men and women are not separated and families can "seriously live together," Gilbert said.
The shelter enjoys a good reputation as "a place where you can get started up again," he added.
Shelter Monitor Justine Brown agreed with this sentiment, saying her job description was "endless" but that it could be summed up as "trying to help people get to the right place."
Brown said he understands the difficulty of getting to that right place.
"I used to be homeless," she said, noting that she came to the Charlottesville shelter 12 years ago as a client. "I never thought I would end up behind this desk."
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