Winter Haven women’s shelter plagued by financial hardship to close its doors

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - The Winter Haven Salvation Army Emergency Lodge will be closing its doors indefinitely on February 12.

Lt. Daniel Jones said the closure is due to rising costs of living paired with a stall in donations. 

The shelter opened its doors in 1982, the same year of the inception of the East Polk County branch of the Salvation Army.  At any given time, it serves an average of 15 women, with the capacity to serve 24. 

"For the residents over there, we provide meals, we provide beds for them to stay, they have washers and dryers," Jones explained.  

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Currently, 11 women call it home. 

The East Polk County shelter is expected to close in February. 

"The cost of living has risen around the area, in the country in general, so people who have fallen on hard times, they need a place to stay, so we try to help them out," he said.

Lt. Jones explained the shelter has been facing hardships itself for nearly a decade. 

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"It's been struggling with a lack of substantial donations and also the rising costs of living," he stated. "This year it just got to the point where the deficit actually almost doubled, and we just haven't had as much donation and support as we were hoping for." 

Lt. Jones estimates its current deficit is somewhere around $125,000.

Exterior of the shelter, which is closing amid financial hardship. 

As the clock ticks, the East Polk County branch is working with the West Polk County branch in addition to other community partners to find residents somewhere else to go. 

"Instead of just pushing them out and saying, ‘We're sorry.’ It is our goal to make sure that everyone we currently have under our care, to make sure that they have a safe place," said Cpt. Jeremy Mockabee, Commanding Officer of the Salvation Army of West Polk County. 

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The non-profit hopes community support will only make this closure temporary. 

"Who's to say two years from now, four years from now, we're back up and running with a shelter?" he asked. 

Click here for more information on the Salvation Army of East Polk County.