About

Shalom Community Center – 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 phones, mail, 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 2,200 hot, nutritious meals each month.

Our Mission

Shalom Community Center is committed to aiding and empowering people experiencing homelessness and poverty.

Our Vision

Shalom Community Center envisions a community that honors every person’s fundamental right to sustenance, a safe home, quality health care, and meaningful work. We see ourselves as a key leader in providing the full range of support and services for people dealing with poverty and homelessness in South Central Indiana.

Our Values

Hospitality – We extend community beyond the margins to include those unserved by society.  We invite all people into our safe and welcoming space.  Recognizing the many challenges our guests struggle with on a daily basis, we place as few barriers as possible between our guests and our services and resources.

Dignity – We value the worth and dignity of every person, treating all with compassion and respect. We honor the lives, concerns and stories of people who have been marginalized by society and expect our staff, volunteers and guests to do the same.

Empowerment – We strive to increase the economic and social strength of people in need.  We help people develop confidence in their own capacities.  We support people in making choices that improve the quality of their lives.

Hope – We believe in the possibility each person possesses to create a sustainable, healthy and happy life. We work to nurture that hope in all people.

Our 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 people daily.

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.