About Shalom Community Center

Mission
The Shalom Community Center is dedicated to relieving the plight of those experiencing homelessness and poverty in South Central Indiana. Since access to food, housing, education, and health and human services are fundamental human rights; we seek to meet these basic needs. As a non profit resource center, we deliver social services directly and in collaboration with other agencies in a respectful and secure environment. We advocate for the most vulnerable among us and promote activities that empower people to develop their assets to the fullest extent possible.

Vision

We envision a safe, welcoming environment where residents of South Central Indiana who are experiencing homelessness and/or poverty can receive shelter, support services, food and the other necessities of daily living. We envision Shalom Community Center as a hub of social services provision to maximize access to and effectiveness of programs in the Bloomington community.

Values

Dignity and Respect. Shalom guests deserve the dignity and respect due to all of our peers. The use of people first language (e.g., people who are homeless) is more than an exercise in semantics. Language shapes thought, and we recognize that the people we serve deserve the same respect that providers expect from them. People who visit Shalom and use our services are our guests.

Non-judgment. Shalom guests are individuals who are responsible for their own lives. We do not condemn our guests’ choices, though we may seek to provide options and alternatives to the self-destructive choices our guests may have made in the past.

Choice. Shalom guests should be given real choices in housing, treatment, and support services. They should be informed of the full array of options available to them. Services cannot be “one size fits all”; they should be tailored to the individuals’ needs.

Voice. Shalom guests have a say in the programs, policies and services designed to serve them.

Empowerment. Shalom guests are educated and empowered to make choices in matters affecting their lives and to accept responsibility for those choices.

Hope. Hopelessness breeds helplessness and despair. For many, recovery of hope is essential for overcoming homelessness and poverty.

History

The Shalom Community Center began as just an idea, like many agencies fundamental to the well-being of our community. In 2000, some members of the First United Methodist Church realized that people staying in emergency shelters in Bloomington had no place to go during the day when they were expected to be out of the shelter between 9am and 4pm. Before Shalom Community Center opened, people without homes spent time on the street, went to the library, or went any place that they would be unnoticed, but seemed always unwelcome. The church members partnered with a local emergency shelter to open a room in the church to provide a safe place to go during the day as well as offer coffee, newspapers, and a listening ear. This became known as Shalom Community Center, a joint program of Shelter, Inc. and the First United Methodist Church. It was named Shalom because Shalom means “welcome,” or “peace be upon you” in Hebrew. Because we are open and welcoming to everyone, the name fit perfectly.

September 19, 2002, Shalom Community Center gained 501(c)3 nonprofit status and became an entity of its own. In just a few short years, it went from just an idea, to one room in a church, to what we are now, a safe daytime shelter for people experiencing homelessness or poverty with greatly expanded programs and services, including free breakfast and lunch service. In its first year of service, about Shalom served about 20 guests per day. Now it serves over 200.

A Safe, Daytime Resource Center for Those Experiencing Homelessness and Poverty

Shalom Community Center, Inc. is a safe, daytime resource center for people experiencing homelessness and poverty in South Central Indiana. Many of our guests are temporary residents at area emergency shelters, and use Shalom as a point of contact for potential employers, personal support networks, and human services representatives from more than 20 local nonprofit agencies. In addition to providing access to computers, transportation vouchers and a number of in-house programs, we are the only agency in the county to provide breakfast and lunch daily, serving more than 2200 hot, nutritious meals each month.

We at the Shalom Community Center are committed to our community. We have focused that commitment on provision of relief to those experiencing hunger and homelessness in Bloomington and the surrounding area. We provide nutritious meals free of charge to the approximately 4,000 individuals and families living in poverty in the Bloomington area. Of the homeless population, an estimated 40 percent went one or more days in the last 30 days without anything to eat because they could not afford food. The Shalom Community Center has worked against these statistics to the benefit of hundreds of Indiana’s homeless.

Shalom Community Center is an independent 501 (c) 3 registered not-for-profit charitable organization. Although we are generously supported by many faith-based organizations in the community, we are not a church or religion-based organization. Your support of Shalom is tax exempt to the full extent allowed by law.

Our Staff

Executive Director – Joel Rekas, joel@shalomcommunitycenter.org

Assistant Director – Forrest Gilmore, forrest@shalomcommunitycenter.org

Director of Family Programs – Patti Barrow, patti@shalomcommunitycenter.org

Director of Hunger Relief – Ron Kerner, ron@shalomcommunitycenter.org

Director of Volunteer Services – Pam Kinnaman, pam@shalomcommunitycenter.org

Caseworker – Laura Ertmer, laura@shalomcommunitycenter.org

Legal Aid Coordinator – Jacob Atz, jacob@shalomcommunitycenter.org

Board of Directors

• Nancy Allerhand
• Patricia Andrews
• Jeff Arthur
• Alan Backler
• Karen Boswell
• Randy Bridges
• Joe G. Emerson
• Anne Foster
• Jim Harvey
• Diana Hoffman
• Tim Jessen
• Susan Johnson
• John J. Miller
• Jeff Pohlen
• Susan Woods