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When the Springfield Overflow Shelter opens tonight,
both the clients and the helpers will notice changes. The shelter,
previously located at Helping Hands, has moved to the Salvation Army, 530
N. Sixth St. For the homeless, the new location means access to
hot showers and close proximity to breakfast at either the Washington
Street Mission or St. John’s Breadline. For the volunteers, it means
an additional layer of protection — from them.
For the first time, the SOS is requiring its
volunteers to submit to a background check — a measure that Jodi
Sladek, volunteer coordinator for the Salvation Army, says is required by
the national headquarters. “They have to fill out an application and a
background check,” she says, “because even though they
won’t be working with minors we do have youth in our
building.”
Sladek says that more than 115 volunteers, undeterred
by the new security measure, have signed up for SOS shifts, including a
group of students from the University of Illinois at Springfield. However,
one church’s members disagreed with the new screening process and
decided not to return this year. Volunteers from Springfield’s Abraham Lincoln
Unitarian Universalist Congregation have been working with the SOS since it
first opened, in 2004, but the Rev. Martin Woulfe says that they were
concerned about submitting private information to the Salvation Army.
“They wanted us to submit a lot of personal
data, including Social Security numbers,” Woulfe says. “Some
people thought it would put us in jeopardy for identity theft.”
Woulfe’s congregation hopes to assist in other
local homeless initiatives, such as the Sojourn House, but still supports
the Salvation Army’s efforts with the SOS. “They have much greater resources and a
building,” Woulfe says, “so that’s a wonderful step
forward.”
The SOS is open 7 p.m.-7 a.m. seven days a week, Nov.
1-March 31. The Salvation Army is still looking for volunteers, Sladek
says; 200 were required last year to run a successful operation.
Contact Amanda Robert at arobert@illinoistimes.com
This article appears in Oct 25-31, 2007.
