MIDLAND, Texas — Sometimes there comes a time in life when you just need a helping hand.
Luckily, there are services like the Salvation Army to help.
With an influx in people, the shelter is in need of basics like soap and shampoo.
"Sometimes they just need extra conversation, that means extra lights on. Sometimes they need bedding sometimes they need clothing," said Lt. Juan Gomez commanding officer for Odessa Salvation Army.
To keep up with demand, the shelter is looking at new ways to get funding.
“Our sprinkler system, we need to update it not only to meet city code, and we’re there right now. But to meet the code for the new remodel that we have, that will push us into a new area." said Gomez.
It’s a shelter that doesn’t ever go unused.
“I can tell you that we have not had a free bed for the past two and a half months. That’s a fact, in fact, last free bed that we had was in May where we had two free beds. My shelter manager came up to me and told me Lt we have two free beds and the next day they were full and that was a surprise to hear," said Gomez.
It’s a service Gomez knows makes a difference from first-hand experience.
“I am a product of the Salvation Army. I’ve been homeless and I wasn’t homeless out of choice, nor was I homeless because I did something I shouldn’t have and it was a consequence. I was homeless because the situation I was in dictated it, sometimes life just hands us unfortunate circumstances," said Gomez.
He says the difference is looking past those circumstances and seeing the opportunity to succeed and one day give back to the less unfortunate.
“A lot of the time, life just beats down on them in such a way that they have nowhere else to turn. And our shield is an opportunity for them to find hope. To find the food that they need, the safety that they need. I will tell you in confidence, that the majority of the women and men who are in our shelter today..are not only in a shelter and in a program geared to them succeeding. But they have the desire to succeed as well," said Gomez.