Salvation Army Rehab to Close

This feels like a very sad thing. Santa Barbara County has an exceptional recovery community, which both benefits and is benefitted by the people in the Salvation Army program.

The current manager is managing to break even in these worst of times; and the guy who preceded him allowed the facility to lose 10 million dollars over 19 years?

I'd say that's worthy of an investigation and I hope it's already well underway. Something's fishy at the Salvation army; and it's not only the restaurant that now occupies their former location on lower State Street.

For example; take the Taj Mahal looking structure that they built on Chapala Street. Pretty damn classy for a Salvation Army Building. One has to wonder how much excess money went into its construction that would have been better spent elsewhere.

It's this sort of thing that gives non-profits a bad name.

Doug.

I wonder about this. The Salvation Army has been one of the top revenue-raising charities in the United States, or within a place or two of the top for many years. Combining charitable fundraising, governmental grants, and other revenues, the Salvation Army pulled in $1.3 billion from private sources, $2.8 billion total, in one recent year.

In 2004 they got a bequest of $1.5 billion from the estate of McDonalds heiress Joan Kroc. Where does that go? Where does the bell-ringer money go? Why can't they bail out this program and make it work? Why does it have to be self-sustaining? Something doesn't smell right to me.

I would like to know who usually funded the operation, and where that money will go now? Was it just Salvation Army, or were major donations involved?

I doubt anyone knows the answer, but I can't help but wonder if big donors don't want a successful rehabilitation program in Carpenteria because they're afraid of attracting "dangerous" addicts to the area.

People need to realize that alcoholics and people with addiction are all around us. We need to accept that before we can ever deal with these societal problems on a serious level.

The absence of programs like this just leaves more people out on the streets, unable to find the help they so desperately need.

I know nothing about the finances of the organization, and, if there was fiscal malfeasance, then it should be investigated and prosecuted, if appropriate.

I just want to say that a close family member of mine several years ago needed to utilize the services of the Salvation Army, and it is the only non profit entity to which I donate money each year.

They may have saved my loved one's life, and it is a tragedy that they will no longer be a support system to human beings who are struggling to maintain their dignity and self of worthiness just to keep on living, in some cases. Sobriety cannot achieved without support systems. That is a major vacuum that needs to be filled.

WRT to comments about the "Taj Mahal" - I don't know the particulars, but, in SB, new buildings must conform to community standards, not only in quality of construction, but aesthetic appearance. Having been involved in such an endeavor in the past, I am sure the Salvation Army would have settled for less if they had the option.

But is that what is even important about this?

What will happen to the persons the SA serves? The City should consider that, as it will eventually become their/our problem.

What happens next?
We have an intense need for these facilities.
Desperate in fact.
Cottage 5 East cannot take this on.
What is left?
This makes no sense.
Lots of holes.

For those of you who are more concerned with how the Salvation Army spends its donation money instead of the fact that the county is losing a vital resource in the ongoing struggle of rehabilitation, look up Forbes magazines article on non-profit organizations. The Salvation Army is always in the top ten organizations in dollars into program ratios.

I am the current Administrator of The Salvation Army Rehabilitation Center in Carpinteria, and have some responses to the comments made here.

1) I have worked for and with a number of non-profits over the years, and have modeled their bookkeeping and financial procedures on The Salvation Army. The integrity of this organization is superb and I am proud to be a part of it.

2) We are careful to honor our doner's intent and to use their donations with integrity. The Kroc donation made several years ago was restricted to be used only for building major recreation centers for underprivileged youth across the nation. 99% of the Salvation Army units will never see a dime of that donation.

3) The Carpinteria center has been a marginal operation over the last 20 years under a number of different administrators. There are 24 ARC centers across the West that help each other out, and the Carpinteria center had to rely on them. The centers conduct a highly successful spiritually based program that can only be privately funded through the donation of goods and sales in the Thrift Stores. They must pay their way because there is simply not enough money out there to fund the rehab program (which is free to the men and women who have few other options). This center costs 3M per year to operate, which works out to about $125 per bed per night, which is very cheap for a very successful rehab program. Unfortunately, it sometimes operated at a loss of over 500K per year. The Salvation Army is unable to sustain that kind of loss in this climate because many of the other ARC centers are now just barely making it.

The decision was made this past fall when there was simply no money to sustain operations at Carpinteria (or another center in Colorado). Even though we were operating in the black Nov-Jan, there was no guarantee that it would continue.

Other ARC centers will now continue to take residents from the local counties. It is sad, yes, but it is the only way that The Salvation Army can continue to provide significant services to this and other areas.