Closure Update March 20, 2020:
Washington Street Mission will remain closed in accordance with the Shelter-in-Place mandate issued by Governor Pritzker. Our guests are being Sheltered-in-Place at the various shelters in town and will be staying there until the mandate is lifted. For those wanting to know how they can help, Helping Hands, the Salvation Army, and the City of Springfield are coordinating this effort and will be posting needs on their Facebook pages and on the Heartland Continuum of Care website.
Closure Notice Tuesday, March 17, 2020 through March 22, 2020:
Washington Street Mission is a place where anyone can come in and get the help that they need – a shower, laundry, clothing, and a cup of coffee. As a result, we average over 200 people per day in our building. We are also a gathering place for many in our community – those experiencing homelessness, the elderly from the nearby apartments, and low-income families. In many ways, we function similarly to a restaurant- guests come in, get some coffee and donated food, and sit down at tables together.
Last week, due to COVID-19, we began taking as many precautions as we could – we stopped serving food to our guests, we started using disposable cups and serving each person individually rather than letting them get their own coffee, we cancelled our Saturday gospel service (which has been running over 90 people) until the end of April, and we asked many of our volunteers to postpone their visits in order to keep them safe and to prevent, if possible, COVID-19 being introduced to our guests.
Today, after the Governor’s announcement of the mandatory closing of all restaurants and bars and limiting the gathering of people to 50 or less, our Executive Board has made the difficult decision to close the Mission, this includes drop-off donations and all current services to our guests.
This decision was made for this week, March 17, 2020 through March 22, 2020 and will be reevaluated weekly for the safety of our guests, our volunteers, and our staff. Again, this has been a very, very difficult decision to make. We will work with local authorities to continue to make the best decisions and offer the best service to our guests at this time.
Washington Street Mission will remain closed in accordance with the Shelter-in-Place mandate issued by Governor Pritzker. Our guests are being Sheltered-in-Place at the various shelters in town and will be staying there until the mandate is lifted. For those wanting to know how they can help, Helping Hands, the Salvation Army, and the City of Springfield are coordinating this effort and will be posting needs on their Facebook pages and on the Heartland Continuum of Care website.
Closure Notice Tuesday, March 17, 2020 through March 22, 2020:
Washington Street Mission is a place where anyone can come in and get the help that they need – a shower, laundry, clothing, and a cup of coffee. As a result, we average over 200 people per day in our building. We are also a gathering place for many in our community – those experiencing homelessness, the elderly from the nearby apartments, and low-income families. In many ways, we function similarly to a restaurant- guests come in, get some coffee and donated food, and sit down at tables together.
Last week, due to COVID-19, we began taking as many precautions as we could – we stopped serving food to our guests, we started using disposable cups and serving each person individually rather than letting them get their own coffee, we cancelled our Saturday gospel service (which has been running over 90 people) until the end of April, and we asked many of our volunteers to postpone their visits in order to keep them safe and to prevent, if possible, COVID-19 being introduced to our guests.
Today, after the Governor’s announcement of the mandatory closing of all restaurants and bars and limiting the gathering of people to 50 or less, our Executive Board has made the difficult decision to close the Mission, this includes drop-off donations and all current services to our guests.
This decision was made for this week, March 17, 2020 through March 22, 2020 and will be reevaluated weekly for the safety of our guests, our volunteers, and our staff. Again, this has been a very, very difficult decision to make. We will work with local authorities to continue to make the best decisions and offer the best service to our guests at this time.
