T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY Sharon Swope is the executive director of the Mid-Iowa Triumph Recovery Center, which currently offers the only 24-hour warming center for homeless individuals in Marshalltown when temperatures dip below 32 degrees.

The winter months in Iowa can be hard on everyone, but they’re especially difficult for those who find themselves without a place to live. While efforts to get a homeless shelter off the ground and operational in Marshalltown are ongoing, the Mid-Iowa Triumph Recovery Center (MITRC), located at 204 E. Linn St. Ste. A, is opening its doors as the only current 24-hour warming station in the community during the colder months.

“We started Nov. 21. We took that weekend that was real warm off. When it’s warm, they all have places that they probably stay,” MITRC Executive Director Sharon Swope. “We took off four days last week, and that’s it.”

Swope, who is now involved with the Homelessness Task Force, said monitors are currently being trained, and before long, St. Mary Catholic Church will be able to host individuals overnight from Monday through Thursday in the basement with the MITRC handling them on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays anytime the temperature is below 32 degrees fahrenheit.

The recovery center is equipped with 10 cots, sleeping bags, two couches, and a recliner along with hygiene items. There have been a few nights where all the cots were occupied, Swope said, and the five staff members of the MITRC keep statistics that they can provide to the task force.

Additionally, there are no limits on how long an individual can stay.

“We’re trying to get people off the street. I’m sure that’s something that other places do, but why would I?” Swope asked. “We are a safe place. We talk about anything they need to talk about, but we also learn coping skills and everything else here. There’s not a lot we don’t do, actually.”

As she explained, the center isn’t just a spot where visitors can warm up or catch up on sleep: it’s also a place where she and her staff help them obtain copies of their birth certificates and IDs, which are required for Housing and Urban Development (HUD) applications.

Some of their clients, however, face hurdles as those who have been evicted have to wait five years before they can get back on HUD, and those with a drug charge have to wait three years.

“Those are the people you see that they can’t go anywhere, so they’re stuck,” Swope said. “Unless you find a landlord with all utilities paid and you can find a little job or something that will pay it, but now rents are way high, even for those apartments that are really kind of, some of them aren’t up to quality.”

Marshalltown is not lacking in senior housing, Swope said, but for non-senior adults, especially those without children, options can be limited. Recalling her experience volunteering at a shelter in California, she hoped something similar could be set up here.

“We need a shelter, but we need a family shelter and a single people/couples shelter,” she said.

In California, Swope added, those staying were required to either volunteer or look for jobs every day, and she said that method worked well. So far in Marshalltown, there have been success stories. She helped three people get apartments over a two-month period, and she recently brought in a man who had suffered a fall and had been staying in a camper with no heat.

“If you think about it, people show up here (with) all different stories, all different reasons. Sometimes the apartments are just cold, sometimes their heat goes out. All kinds of things,” Swope said. “We don’t get children here very often. If they do come here, then I try my best to find people who will put them in a motel at least and then maybe go from there.”

She credited CAPS for all of their staff’s work to address the issue, and Swope also advocated for an inpatient treatment clinic in Marshalltown to help clients struggling with substance abuse to get back on the right track.

Marshalltown Area United Way Executive Director Kendra Sorensen, who serves as a co-chair of the Homelessness Task Force alongside Jasmin Banderas of CAPS, is working to recruit more volunteer monitors as part of an effort to ease Swope’s workload. Safety protocols are being established, and Marshalltown Police Department (MPD) Officer Logan Wolf also plans to offer de-escalation training at the Marshalltown Arts and Civic Center (MACC) on Wednesday, Jan. 15 for those who are interested.

And despite the challenges they continue to face, Swope remains proud of the work her small staff does on a day-to-day basis.

“We fill out food stamp applications. We fill out all their recertifications for DHS. We fill out anything they need. If we don’t have the information in our heads, we refer out a lot, and everybody has a counselor,” Swope said. “When you’re going through homelessness or you’re going through mental health issues, you need a counselor.”

While she doesn’t have any counselors on her own staff, Swope said she has found willing partners locally, including Wild Spirit Counseling.

The Marshalltown Public Library and the Salvation Army are also available as warming stations during the day. The Mid-Iowa Triumph Recovery Center can be reached at (641) 750-5724, and food donations are always accepted and appreciated.

“Our community has pulled together every year. This isn’t the first year we’ve done this,” Swope said.

Similarly, Sorensen has been continually encouraged by the response the task force’s work has received thus far even as they deal with such a complicated and at times controversial issue, referencing a recent post from Ward 1 Councilor Mike Ladehoff on the Marshall County Outreach Facebook Page.

“I was blown away by, just, the positivity. There were no negative comments or anything. It was really people wanting to help, and we’ve continued to have individuals reach out to us and say ‘Hey, I’d like to help in this capacity or that capacity,'” she said. “Going into 2025, we’ll continue to keep our eyes on the horizon of any grants that are available for long-term sustainability.”