Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that the Colorado Springs Rotary Club’s initial $5,000 donation to the Family Hope Center has grown to $50,000 with matching donations. And the club will host a celebration Friday at The Antlers hotel, preceded by a noon luncheon.

Since mid-September, about 15 families a day have been turned away from receiving emergency overnight shelter at the The Salvation Army’s Family Hope Center, which has been difficult, said Maj. Stephen Ball, El Paso County coordinator and corps officer.

“These are very strenuous times,” he said Tuesday.

But community contributions of about $250,000, will enable the shelter for homeless adults with children to reopen five more units, Ball said.

That will bring the total to 20 spaces for families to stay for up to 90 days while they work on regaining stable housing and self-sufficiency.

The five additional living quarters will reopen “as quickly as we possibly can,” according to Ball.

Contributions have included $100,000 from Colorado Springs-based El Pomar Foundation, along with a $5,000 gift from Colorado Springs Rotary Club that grew to $50,000 with matching donations, as well as individual donors.

The Colorado Springs Rotary Club is hosting a public celebration at 1 p.m. Friday at The Antlers hotel, 4 S. Cascade Ave., when the organization will present its check for $50,000. A paid luncheon will precede the ceremony.

The Salvation Army announced in August that it was facing a $1 million budget shortfall for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1 and would have to scale back its annual operating budget.

Sixteen of the Family Hope Center’s 31 units at 709 S. Sierra Madre St., were closed, and a summer day camp for low-income children was axed. About 15 staff also were laid off, 10 of whom worked at the shelter.

Another case worker and two shelter associates will be hired and trained “as quickly as we possibly can,” Ball said, to bring the shuttered rooms back online.

Even with two-thirds of the shelter’s operations soon to be up and running, there still won’t be enough room for all families seeking help, Ball said.

“It’s a hard time to only have only part of the building open,” he said.

The Salvation Army has seen a surge in demand for services, rising operational costs fueled by inflation and significant reductions in government funding, Ball noted.

Its ongoing fundraising campaign, “Hope Needs Help,” has netted a total of $600,000 in donations since August, which is keeping half of the shelter in business for this fiscal year.

Another $150,000 would enable the organization to fully reopen the 11 remaining rooms at its Family Hope Center and reinstitute the summer day camp program, according to Ball.

Throughout the reduction in capacity, he said the success rate of families who are graduating back into stable housing has remained at about 80%.

The money has been “a blessing from God,” Ball said.

The organization is also preparing to launch its annual Red Kettle campaign with a “Rock the Red Kettle” concert at 6 p.m. on Nov. 15 at Stargazers Theare & Event Center, 10 S. Parkside Drive. Entertainment will be by WireWood Station, winner of the “Best Acoustic Band in Colorado” at the Rocky Mountain Music Festival and “Best Band in Colorado Springs” by The Gazette readers.

Tickets are available at https://coloradosprings.salvationarmy.org/colorado_springs_corps/.