Salvation Army provides many services for local families in need

Last week was National Salvation Army Week. Salvation Army helps in different ways.

Mackenzie Milder, a Women and Children Shelter manager on a typical day, said “I started in October of 2024, so I have been there a year and a half. Some of my responsibilities are managing a team of five (soon to be six hopefully), managing daily operations of the shelter, providing case management to residents, managing inter-personal conflicts, addressing resident needs, documentation, data entry, attending community partner events, etc. My staff do some of what I do as well, but they address more of the resident needs, organization of donations, answering the phone, completing resident intakes when they arrive, etc.”

Milder said one of the Salvation Army’s services is food assistance. “We order food from NEIFB for our shelter residents. Residents always have access to food as we have certain areas in the kitchen with free for all food. We also have a few amazing donors from churches that donate group meals, frozen food and dry food. For the main office, we offer a pantry every Thursday and a community meal every Monday/Wednesday/Friday.”

Milder said, “The Salvation Army’s mission statement is stated as the following: The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian Church. Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by the love of God. Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination.

 “As a staff member, the parts that stand out for what we do is the last half of the last sentence: to meet human needs in His name without discrimination. In turn, all Salvation Army Corps serve those in need, but depending on the scope of services depends on the size/staffing/grants of the corps.”

Milder said other things that the Salvation Army does to help the community are, “for our specific Salvation Army, we provide a lot of services to the Waterloo/Cedar Falls community through our main office on 89 Franklin Street, Waterloo. For needed items, we provide gas cards to get to appointments, fans in the summer, coats in the winter and hygiene products. For vouchers/financial support, we assist with paying for medical prescriptions, obtaining an

ID/driver’s license, and we provide rent/utility assistance (this runs out very fast every month as

a lot of people are in need). For food assistance, we have a pantry every Thursday, and free community meals are served every Monday/Wednesday/Friday. Worship Services and childcare services are also provided. Lastly, we operate two shelters in Waterloo: the men’s shelter and the women’s and children’s shelter.”

Regarding how many people can stay at the shelters at a time, Milder said, “For the men’s shelter, up to 20 individual men can stay at the shelter at a time. For the women’s shelter, up to 32 women and children can stay at the shelter at a time. Since I’ve been there, we have never hit 32 people because we have never had 16 kids at a time.

“At the men’s shelter, there are zero family rooms currently (it is sad, but there are very little shelter options for men with children in our area). At the women’s shelter, we have four family rooms. There are four beds in each room, so in a family room we allow one mom and up to three children. There are exceptions though if mom has a baby that can just sleep with them.”

Regarding how many individual rooms there are, Milder said, “At the men’s, there are 10 individual rooms with two individuals in each room. At the women’s, we have four individual rooms. Before August 2025 (Waverly domestic violence shelter burnt down), we had two individuals per room. Since August of 2025, we have opened up our top bunks. We now have four individuals in each room, so we serve 16 individuals at a time. It can get a little crowded in the individual rooms sometimes.”

Regarding how long people stay, Milder said, “Upon entry, residents are guaranteed 28 days to stay in the shelter. However, there are rules they must follow, so if a resident breaks too many rules or breaks a rule that is very serious, they will be exited from the shelter. Residents can also be asked to leave if they are unable to take care of themselves or if they do not sleep in their bed enough. Residents that are making progress toward their goals (looking for jobs, looking for housing, etc) can complete extension requests. If they continue to work on goals and get all of their extensions, they can stay in the shelter for up to seven weeks. Residents can also be given even more time if they have a lease and the apartment is just not quite ready yet.”

After people stay, Milder said, “If a resident is not asked to leave, they are eligible to come back in 90 days. However, if a resident is exited for a major rule violation, they may be suspended for longer periods of time. It depends on what they were exited for.”

Milder said she pursued this career because “my parents both worked their whole careers to help those who are low-income, so I knew growing up that I wanted to help people as well. When I started my undergrad at Luther College, I thought that I wanted to be a physician’s assistant, but the classes were very difficult, my passion wasn’t there and I worked at a local pharmacy, where I just loved helping people. I transferred to UNI and studied public health. I completed my internship in the summer of 2024 at NEIFB, and that solidified that working in social services/helping those in need would be a good path for me. I graduated in August of 2024 and began my position at the Salvation Army shortly after.”

Milder said she knew this was the career for her after a while. She said, “Honestly, I did not know or expect that I would be managing a homeless shelter in my life. I did not even know that Waterloo had homeless shelters before I applied. I knew that I wanted to get into social work towards the end of my experience at UNI.”

Milder works with just over five people. “Currently, there are six employees at the women and children’s shelter. That includes myself, one full-time employee and four part-time employees. We are currently hiring for another full-time employee. We strive to have 24/7 coverage of the shelter, and our staff works alone the majority of the time. If a staff member is not on-site, residents are provided with an on-call phone in case of emergencies.”