'Helping bridge the gap’
OKLAHOMA CITY – The $20,000 grant Public Service Co. of Oklahoma awarded to The Salvation Army in Lawton couldn’t have come at a better time, the charity’s commanding officer said Wednesday.
The funds are intended to help The Salvation Army “respond to increased needs related to the COVID-19 crisis,” said Tim Hushbeck, PSO external affairs manager.
In Lawton, The Salvation Army provides meals, clothing and shelter to those in need, and supports fire victims and those needing assistance with transportation or utility payments. The grant will “help bridge the gap in needs brought on by these difficult times,” Hushbeck said.
While revenue from donations and from sales of donated items has plummeted, Lawton’s Salvation Army has experienced an increase in meal requests, said Major Da- vid Robinson, the commanding officer.
“We continue to feed hungry people.” Every evening at 6 p.m. The Salvation Army hands out meals-to-go at its headquarters at 1306 SW “E” Ave. in Lawton.
“Usually it ranges from 30 to 40 people at the beginning of the month and 60 to 80 by the end of the month,” Robinson said. “But for the past month we’ve had 60 to 70 every day, and we spiked as high as 93 one night.”
Donations to The Salvation Army food pantry have “slowed down” considerably, but the number of families who need food and other assistance has risen, Robinson lamented. “The Salvation Army is in dire need of food,” the organization says on its website.
The Salvation Army also maintains a shelter for homeless people on the second floor of its headquarters building. “We provide three meals a day for about 20 in our shelter,” Robinson said. “It keeps them off the street.”
Some of them have minimum wage jobs and their hours have been reduced or they’ve been laid off altogether, “so they’re working very little, if at all,” Robinson said. Some of the shelter residents stay a week or two, “but some are not going anywhere soon because their situation isn’t getting any better,” he said.
“We’ve had to make a lot of changes.” Donations of clothing and household goods “have increased like crazy, because people stuck at home are cleaning out their garages, sheds and the attics,” Robinson said.
However, the Salvation Army’s Thrift Store is closed. “Sales have dropped to nothing, so our income has shut down completely,” he said. “We received less than $500 in the last two to three weeks.” Even supplies are “hard to find when we need so much,” Robinson said. “We’re work- ing with the Regional Food Bank in Oklahoma City, and doing what we can to stretch our money as far as we can.”
The $20,000 grant came from the American Electric Power Foundation, the charitable arm of American Electric Power, parent company of PSO. “This money was heaven-sent, and we are so grateful for it,” Robinson said.
The Salvation Army has about 10 employees at its headquarters to staff the shelter and the administration office, Robinson indicated. The organization has more than 20 employees in Lawton, “but our Thrift Store and the Girls and Boys Club are both closed,” he noted.
PSO, based in Tulsa, supplies electricity to more than 550,000 customers in southwestern and eastern Oklahoma. It serves more than three dozen cities and towns in southwest Oklaho- ma, including Lawton, Altus, Cache, Duncan, Elgin and Fletcher.