An Inside Look at the O’Fallon Family Shelter

By: Becky Kreienkamp, Midland Division The O’Fallon Community Center is a beautiful location of five acres complete with food pantry, shelter, chapel, playground, multipurpose room, nursery, garden and even a trail in the woods where residents can enjoy “prayer walks” with Captain Paul. On Tuesday, May 15, this community center hosted an open house and [...]

Visit to Shelter Inspires Students to Learn About Homelessness

By: Bethany Williams, Midland Division The staff at Family Haven felt “blessed” to have eighth graders from St. Joseph’s Day School in Imperial, Mo. provide hours of service for the shelter on April 12th. The group of students cleaned the Family Haven Child Center, a high-traffic playroom in the family shelter which serves up to 50 kids daily. Additionally, [...]

A Partner in Parenting Today’s Homeless Youth

In recognition of National Homeless Youth Month, we are featuring the work of Shalonda Haynes, Educational Coordinator for our Family Haven Shelter. By: Danni Eickenhorst, Midland Division The Salvation Army’s Family Haven shelter houses between 40 and 50 homeless children at any given time. “Most of our families have been doubled up with another family, [...]

No Ordinary Home

The term “homeless shelter” conjures up images of soup kitchens, cots and cold tile. Lillian Bartee imagined these same things when she found herself without a home or job, and preparing to enter The Salvation Army’s Family Haven, but came to find that Family Haven was anything but cold. Lillian’s story is one of how [...]

Adopt-a-bed program launched to support local shelters

The Salvation Army announces the kick-off of their Adopt-A-Bed program, a sponsorship and donation program to support the work of the O’Fallon and Alton homeless shelters. The Salvation Army provides services to families in the St. Louis area, and seeks to help them break the cycle of poverty, by helping them to become stable and [...]

Living Life on Life’s Terms

Douglas Simmons is an entrepreneur. He owns his own business, remodeling homes and performing HVAC work residentially. He lives in his own home, attends church weekly and has an unflappable faith in God. He is well-spoken, clean-cut and has a kind nature about him. It is hard to imagine that nearly two years ago, the [...]

The O’Fallon Shelter: Empowering People to Help Themselves

At the age of 29, Rebecca Reeves is starting over. Just a few months out of prison and 6 months sober after a long addiction to heroin, the mother of two is finding a new start with The Salvation Army’s O’Fallon homeless shelter. “The Salvation Army provides me with a lot of structure and a [...]