The Salvation Army’s Nationwide Response to Coronavirus

As the coronavirus COVID-19 has evolved into a pandemic, we are monitoring the situation daily. Safety is of utmost priority, so we have ramped up efforts to slow the spread of this virus among our employees, volunteers, and the homeless and other vulnerable people we serve.

In the United States, one in six people live in poverty, and more than 550,000 are counted as homeless. These populations severely lack access to proper care, hygiene, updated information, and medical resources, which makes them more susceptible to the virus. This is where we come in. This is who we serve.

We are working with local, state, and federal government and health authorities, including participating in situation awareness calls with federal partners like FEMA, CDC, DHS, and HHS. We are developing new hygiene and cleaning protocols to help keep safe our residents and others who depend on The Salvation Army’s programs and services to survive. In addition, all staff, volunteers, and program participants have been sent hygiene and prevention information as recommended by the CDC.

We also anticipate a significant increase in need of emergency assistance for low-wage employees facing layoffs due to COVID-19. The support we provide – rent/mortgage, utility, and food assistance, among others – will become more urgent as the situation evolves.

Meanwhile, our local divisions will continue to work in close partnership with area government and health experts to prepare and respond to meet specific community needs of 23 million individuals we serve each year and the more than 63,000 employees of our organization. We will continue to update this page as developments warrant.

We need support from our communities to continue to meet the daily needs of these vulnerable populations. Your donations will continue to help us respond to the situation.