The Salvation Army plans to convert its thrift store on Cherry Avenue into a homeless shelter — but the thrift store will not be closing.
“We are not closing our thrift store operations,” The Salvation Army Charlottesville corps officer Major Mark Van Meter told Charlottesville Tomorrow. “But we are planning to move it.”
The plan to build a shelter is still in its early stages, Van Meter said. But if it unfolds as the organization hopes, construction may begin as soon as next year.
Before that happens, The Salvation Army intends to secure a new location for the store.
“Shoppers will have ample information about the move of the store when it happens next year,” Van Meter said. And until then, the store will continue accepting donations.
Recently, Van Meter offered up the building, located at 604 Cherry Avenue in Charlottesville’s Fifeville neighborhood, for an overnight low-barrier shelter — something the community currently does not have.
He did so, he said, because he saw a need for it.
The number of people experiencing homelessness in Charlottesville and the surrounding counties is on the rise, which means more people are competing for already-lean resources, case workers and other homelessness services providers told Charlottesville City Council earlier this year.
But Van Meter knows that a lot of folks rely on the thrift store, too, which is why the organization is looking for a new location for it.
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