By Jeff McCready
The Salvation Army is another of the service organizations located in the downtown.
"Most Salvation Army facilities are in downtown areas or in areas of high need," said Capt. Christine Hinzman who with her husband, Capt. Tim Hinzman, have been in Johnstown for just under four years.
"We work with the other Social Service agencies," she continued. "Johnstown is a community that very much takes care of its own. Johnstown is very good to the Salvation Army."
The Salvation Army's Johnstown Corps at 576 Vine St., a United Way agency, is both a worship and a service center that has been in Johnstown since 1887. This is the only corps with a functioning church in Cambria County, but the Salvation Army also has a service unit operating out of the Admiral Peary Area Vocational-Technical School in Ebensburg.
The Johnstown Corps also services Windber.
The present location was constructed in 1922 with an addition being put on in 1956.
While most people identify the Salvation Army with the red kettles for depositing donations at Christmas, the Johnstown Corps is much more than that.
The various activities are carried out by 11 employes, a number that includes the Hinzmans, a program assistant and three case workers.
Weekly Sunday School and Sunday worship services are held in a chapel in the main building. Both Hinzmans are ordained ministers.
There are programs that reach out to youth, adults and the community.
Dinners are served Monday through Friday in the gymnasium. Between 75 and 125 are fed each evening. There was an Easter Sunday dinner this year.
Those who come are a mixture of the working poor, residents of the nearby towers and people who are suffering from addiction or who are simply lonely.
Capt. Hinzman said the increases in prices for gasoline and heating mean many do not have as much for food as they once did.
"We're seeing an increase in people needing fuel assistance," she said. "They use the food center so they can save money for those things."
In the basement level is a large food storage area. If people come in needing food they will receive bags of food to help them out.
The Johnstown Corps has $1,600 a month available to assist those in need with rent and utilities. It works in cooperation with other agencies.
"Everything is verified," she said. "There is an accountability process."
On the third floor is a homeless shelter for those with addictions, people who have burned bridges, those who have problems managing funds or those whose car may have broken down as they were passing through.
The shelter is licensed to house 24 with the average nightly occupancy being 11.
During their stay in the shelter, people are required to take steps to get them out of their homeless situations.
"They have goals they must be working on," she said. "They have chores they must do."
Stays at the shelter range from 3 to 30 days.
The Johnstown Corps has three vehicles including an emergency canteen that responds to fires and other disasters.
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