Salvation Army Understaffed - Considers Major Changes

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) - The Salvation Army in St. Cloud is considering some major changes due to a staff shortage.

Get our free mobile app

The East St. Cloud shelter is considering closing from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm to give staff a break while still remaining available for people who need shelter at night.

Karla Rolfzen is the Program Coordinator at the Salvation Army. She says staffing levels have been slowly diminishing since the start of COVID.

So we (have been) short staffed, since COVID, so we are really struggling to keep the shelter fully staffed all day long. We are to the point where we don't have enough staff to keep that going, and we're all getting exhausted from working so many hours.

The shelter currently houses six families, eight single women, and 32 single men, with a total capacity of 62 people. If the shelter was to close during the day, those individuals would have to leave the property every morning at 8:00 and not return until after 4:00.

Rolfzen says they continue to try new ways to get workers in the door.

We are exploring ideas of an overnight shift differential and doing some sign on bonuses. So we're looking at our budget to increase those. But, we also need to people to apply.

There are two shifts available:

The 3:00 pm to 11:00 pm shift is responsible for supervising dinner preparation, checking in new residents, and helping to make those residents as comfortable as possible.
The overnight shift is an awake shift, mainly cleaning and doing laundry at the shelter.

Volunteer opportunities are available and cash donations are always accepted. For more information on how you can help, find the Salvation Army’s website here.