MIDLAND, Texas — The Midland Salvation Army will be expanding their shelter to accommodate for the winter cold.
The Salvation Army will be providing three hot meals a day, along with sleeping cots, free laundry and access to showers.
Numerous donations of sleeping cots allowed the Salvation Army to expand the amount of people that can stay at the shelter from 70 to around 100.
“When the weather hits very low, or even the summertime when it is very high, we open our doors because we want to keep everyone safe," Robert Coriston, commanding officer of the Midland Salvation Army, said. "We start a warming station where people can come in, and get a hot meal, and stay off the streets. Even if we are above capacity, we got a lot of cots donated so we can make sure that nobody gets turned away.”
The Salvation Army has seen a slight uptick in how many people are staying at the shelter.
This came as no surprise to Dominic Singh, who has stayed at the shelter since April.
“There’s an increase of people coming in, you know, they have people on the cots, if there's not a bed, there's a cot available," Singh said. "Then, when other people move on, they move them to the beds. So they take care of you.”
Those who come to the shelter are also given opportunities for jobs and volunteer work. Like Mike Durham, who has been given plenty of work opportunities since coming to the Salvation Army in March.
“Now, I'm working as a bell ringer down at United, K-Mart and Walmart, all those places like that," Durham said. "I’m taking donations, and that’s 40 hours a week.”