newjerseynewsroom.com

New center helping during difficult economic times

BY LINDA MOSS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

SECOND IN A FOUR-PART SERIES ON THE SALVATION ARMY IN NEW JERSEY

The Salvation Army Citadel, which opened its handsome new $8.3 million facility in Montclair in March, hasn't placed any Wall Street stockbrokers in homeless shelters.

"We're not there yet, as bad as things are," said Major Alastair Bate, corps officer of the Montclair Citadel, where he serves as pastor and administrator.

But the Salvation Army has its hands full trying to assist other residents of the affluent town, not only the homeless and destitute, but even middle-class people who are asking for help, according to Bate. People who used to live paycheck to paycheck are coming to the Salvation Army, seeking assistance now because they are unemployed or have suffered some other unexpected financial setback.

"Certainly, we are being hit with an increasing number of people coming for need," Bate said.

"It's the same story we've heard so many times, people saying, ‘I never thought I'd have to come to the Salvation Army for help,'" he said. "That really is the way things are right now. People that always been able to make ends meet suddenly have lost their job, or theirpay's been cut or their hours (have) been cut. Costs increase, and they're stuck in the middle. We try to help as much as we can."

The new 29,000-square-foot Montclair Citadel, a community center on Trinity Place, is expanding its services at a time when more people are in dire need — but donations to the Salvation Army have dropped .

"We've been hit really both ways," Bate said.

When he came to the Montclair Citadel six years ago, before its new facility was built, the center had 40 to 50 people a day coming to its hot-lunch program, which runs three days a week.

"We now have regularly 60 or 70," Bate said. "We're pretty much maxed out on what we can accommodate without making a change — not that we would turn people away."

Recently, a 62-year-old unemployed Belleville man, who did not want to be identified, was at the Montclair facility for his lunch, which was served after a Salvation Army speaker read from the Bible, gave a brief sermon and said grace.

The menu that day was a bacon-lettuce-and-tomato wrap, French fries, and fresh blueberries and strawberries.

"They (the Salvation Army) do what they can," the man said. "Times are hard. It does help."

The hot meals are not only for the unemployed and homeless, but also for the elderly and those who don't have cooking facilities at home, according to Bate. Last year, the Montclair Salvation Army served more than 7,500 hot lunches.

"Anybody can get a hot and healthy meal, free of charge, here in town without any questions asked," Bate said.

The Montclair Citadel has a small food pantry, but also refers people to the Human Needs Food Pantry in town.

With funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Montclair Citadel has just opened a drop-in center, whose goal is to provide resources, education, interaction and socialization "for folk who are struggling," Bate said, the homeless and unemployed.

The drop-in center has a lounge with a TV, and will eventually offer services such as a computer lab and job-search counseling. A staff person will also be hired for the drop-in facility.

And this fall the Montclair Citadel plans to start a food-service training program, which seems like a natural in a town that is chock-full of restaurants.

"We are talking to a caterer in town who is going to help us set up this program and train people in basic food-service preparation," Bate said, declining to identify the caterer.

The new Citadel was built on the site of the former Salvation Army center, which was demolished. The new center was in the works for more than a decade, struggling to raise funds and to secure a location.

Its facilities include a chapel with state-of-the-art acoustics, a gym, a music hall, an activities hall, a kitchen, a half-dozen classrooms, a nursery and a crafts room. The Citadel offers a variety of services. For example, in September it will offer free drama, dance and music classes for children. It also provides after-school tutoring, and in September isreinstituting fitness classes for senior citizens.

The Montclair Citadel is one of 28 corps community centers the Salvation Army has in New Jersey.

"At the moment it's a jewel, because it's been historic," Major Vicki Berry, associate divisional commander for the Salvation Army in New Jersey, said of the newMontclair Citadel. "We've been trying to build a new building there for 10 years, and it's been one road block after another, like difficulty in fundraising. But God's provided."

Religion, spreading the Gospel and acting on Jesus' words, "is absolutely our motivation for doing what we do," Bate said.

But the Montclair Citadel, like all Salvation Army outposts, provides assistance — like help paying utilities — for anyone who comes for aid, whether or not they go to church, and regardless of their religious affiliation — or lack of one.

"Because Montclair is a leading center of Salvation Army ministry, we have a very strong social-service outreach program, a lot of it focused on homelessness and homelessness prevention," Bate said.

In Montclair, which the Salvation Army has been serving since 1891, the organization runs the Cornerstone House on North Fullerton Avenue, a 23-bed homeless shelter. The building, which the Salvation Army rents from the Township ofMontclair, has a waiting list to get in.

The Salvation Army's goal is to move residents of the Cornerstone House to permanent housing within three months, a period that gives them time to raise money for an apartment security deposit or to get a job, according to Bate.

The Montclair Citadel coordinates with other local social service agencies and churches so services aren't duplicated, Bate said. For example, while the Citadel serves hot lunches Monday through Wednesday, St. Luke's Episcopal Church offers them Thursday through Saturday.

"There is great coordination of social services, probably better than I've seen in many other communities," Bate said.

Bebe Landis, program administrator for Montclair's Division of Social Services, said her office is a referral agency and that it works closely with the Salvation Army.

"At the bottom level, they (the Salvation Army) work directly with the disenfranchised here, those in crisis," Landis said. "When you think crisis, beside the Red Cross, they're one of the places that comes to mind."

The economy's downturn has put a crimp on the Montclair Salvation Army's major donations, which are down 20 percent to 25 percent this year versus last, according to Bate.

Nonetheless, the Montclair Citadel opted not to participate in a "Christmas in July" program, which had some Salvation Army centers across the country putting bell-ringers with kettles out on the sultry summer streets to raise additional funds.

"It's a personal opinion," Bate said. "I like to keep the focus of Christmas on Christmas. That is our big fundraising time. There's plenty of other things happening in the summer that we can let people know about, like Camp Tecumseh (the Salvation Army's camp in Hunterdon County LINK TWO), day camp here, and some other things. I think perhaps it dilutes the Christmas focus somewhat."

The Montclair Salvation Army has a "robust worshiping community," which is getting bigger since the larger Citadel opened, Bate said.

The old chapel only had 130 seats, and now there are about 170 church members, according to Bate. "That's growing as we've come to the new center, which is what we hoped for," he said. "We built 250 seats, so we're looking to fill them. We have a broad range of members, from folk who are really our clients as well as right the way up to business folk and professional musicians and teachers, all kinds of people."

OTHER STORIES IN THE SALVATION ARMY SERIES

New Jersey Salvation Army finds some donors have become clients

Camp Tecumseh brings salvation to New Jersey kids