This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The Salvation Army of Utah will stop serving dinner at the St. Vincent de Paul Dining Hall at the end of September and instead plans to begin taking meals to shelters, parks and other places that homeless Utahns congregate — a plan that has clients and anti-hunger advocates alarmed.
Major Richard Greene, who has led the local Salvation Army operation for the past three years, said the nonprofit has a growing budget deficit and can no longer afford to pay Catholic Community Services $3,000 a month for nightly use of the center's dining room at 437 W. 200 South.
"We're trying to continue feeding as economically as possible and, basically, paying for the dining room is an expense we can no longer absorb," Greene said Thursday.
The Salvation Army of Utah has an annual budget of approximately $2.8 million. Of that sum, 92 percent is contributed by individuals. But donations are down and the organization currently has a $119,000 budget deficit. Greene already has reduced salaries and eliminated three administrative employees in the past year to trim expenses.
"The economy is hurting, people who are receiving are hurting and people who are giving are hurting as well," Greene said. "We are trying everything we can to make sure we can continue doing services. That is our commitment."
Pamela Atkinson, an advocate for low-income and homeless Utahns, said efforts are under way to fill the funding gap so that the Salvation Army can continue to use the dining hall.
"What we're trying to do is look at different ways of paying for the program," Atkinson said. "They serve a great many homeless and low-income people."
Atkinson acknowledged philosophies and service styles have clashed at times during the Salvation Army and Catholic Community Services' eight-year partnership, but said that if the financial issues can be worked out, "any other issues can be resolved by talking and negotiating."
The Salvation Army provides a sandwich and cup of hot soup for 350 to 375 people seven nights a week, 364 days a year. The meal service is supported by 45 congregations who provide volunteers to prepare and serve the dinners — support Greene hopes continues. Catholic Community Services provides lunch daily at the dining hall.
Beginning in October, meals will be prepared in the Salvation Army's certified kitchen and "instead of bringing the homeless to the dining room, we're going to take the meals closer to where they are sleeping." Greene estimates 60 percent of its meal recipients come from The Road Home, just across the street.
Bill Tibbitts, anti-hunger project director at Crossroads Urban Center, is among those concerned about the new plan.
"It's going to be [more] difficult getting volunteers to follow their trucks around than getting people to go to St. Vincent's," he said. "That will discourage volunteers."
The indoor meal service allowed homeless Utahns to briefly escape winter cold and summer heat, he added.
"We've met with Salvation Army and looked at all the logistics of serving [meals] in various ways and keep coming back to the fact that serving it in a dining room where homeless and low-income people can sit down and socialize and get out of the weather in the winter is literally the best way to do it," Atkinson said.
At Crossroads on Tuesday morning, one man who has relied on the Salvation Army's free meal in the past said the mobile service would likely result in long lines at The Road Home and be harder for homeless people to locate.
"That's not helping the people," he said.
Twitter: @Brooke4Trib