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'Nowhere to turn': Salvation Army to close shelter program in Winter Haven, blames higher expenses

The organization says 11 women currently seeking shelter at the facility and will now have to leave by Feb. 12.

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — Nearly a dozen women who have been seeking shelter at the Salvation Army facility in eastern Polk County will have to find someplace else to stay.

After nearly 40 years, the shelter in Winter Haven is closing its doors.

The organization says 11 women currently seeking shelter at the facility and will now have to leave by Feb. 12.

The Salvation Army says it can’t keep running it the shelter as expenses have soared and donations are not keeping pace.

“It’s been hard,” said Angela Gay, who has been living at the Salvation Army women’s shelter in Winter Haven for about four months. “I kind of had nowhere else to go. Except for back to my old life which was back to a drug dealer house, and I didn’t want to live that life anymore.”

The Salvation Army says it was a painful difficult decision, but that the homeless shelter they’ve operated in Winter Haven since 1982 has been in the red for several years and can no longer be sustained financially.

They estimate the facility is $125,000 in debt, much of it due to inflation.

“Not just counting the cost of all of the employees, [but] all the staff. Also, the food cost, utilities, cleaning supplies. Everything that we provide for them,” said Lt. Amanda Jones, the shelter's director. “We're trying not to leave them high and dry. We're trying not to do it. We can support them in a pastoral but also in a physical way. 

"Losing a home is a very difficult thing to have, and that's already what they've been through, and this is a temporary home, but we want to help them find their forever home.”

For more than 40 years, the shelter has provided a safe space, food and comfort to women with no place to go.

They have room for 24 women and average around 15 women at a time.

Currently, 11 women are staying at the shelter, including Gay – who is now scared.

“When you’re trying to turn your life around, and you’re trying not to go back to that same life and there’s no resources, no help, and things are shutting down, [it's hard]” she said. “You have nowhere to turn but back to the same life.”

The Salvation Army does operate another shelter on the west side of Polk County in Lakeland.

They say they are working with them and other organizations to try to place the women.

But Gay – who only has a bicycle for transportation – says that simply won’t work for her. Her doctors, social services and job prospects are all within biking distance in Winter Haven.

“If they said there’s a bed open in Lakeland, I wouldn’t go,” she said.

The Salvation Army hasn’t ruled out the possibility that the shelter might one day reopen years from now, but they say it would take a dedicated revenue stream and a commitment from the local community.

While the sheltering program will be closed, the facility will continue to provide counseling, meals and links to social services in the community. They are also working with the Homeless Coalition and the United Way to see what other resources are available locally.

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