Salvation Army leaders on Wednesday dedicated an Emergency Assistance Building that was built to the east of its Corps Community Center, 611 W. Washington St.
"It's exciting," Matt Jontry, chairman of Salvation Army's advisory board, said after the grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by more than 50 Salvation Army volunteers, staff, board members, church members and representatives of the McLean County Chamber of Commerce.
"This means we're going to be able to do our programs more efficiently," said Capt. Paul James.
The 2,800-square-foot building will be for storage for Salvation Army's food pantry and office space for comprehensive emergency assistance (the food pantry, rent and utility assistance and emergency transportation) and Pathways of Hope, which works with young families to break the poverty cycle, said the programs' case manager, Nick Aister.
The food pantry, emergency assistance and Pathways programs are in Salvation Army's Safe Harbor homeless shelter located behind the new building at 208 N. Oak St. Having those programs and their clients in the homeless shelter led to confidentiality concerns among clients of all three programs, James said.
"This new building helps us to serve our clients in a more responsible way," James said. "We serve 150 to 200 families a month" and many are in crisis.
Freeing up space in the shelter will provide more room for clients and allow staff to be more efficient, James said.
The new storage space also will free up the community center gymnasium for youth after-school programs. Part of the gym frequently is used for storage of donated food, coats and hygiene items, James said.
"It's really fantastic," said Aister, who estimates he spends four hours a week moving things around because of lack of storage space. "This will allow me to meet with four more clients a week."
The building cost $900,000. About $800,000 came from the estate of former Bloomington residents Michael and Ethel S. Conran, James said.
Without the gift, the building wouldn't have been built for years, Jontry said.
Ethel Conran, a former secretary and bookkeeper, died in 2011. Her husband, Michael Conran, who owned a manufacturing company, died in 1992.
The remaining $100,000 came from various donations, Jontry said.
Eventually, Salvation Army will tear down its chapel building at 701 W. Washington St. — used for Sunday worship, storage and programs — because it costs too much to renovate that building, Jontry and James said.
Sunday worship and classrooms will be moved to renovated space in the current gym. A building to be built in front of the new Emergency Assistance Building will become the new gym.
Follow Paul Swiech on Twitter: @pg_swiech
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