Comment on Atmos Energy donates $25,000 for shelter, renovations

By Zack Orsborn Daily Journal TUPELO – With a new shelter at Salvation Army coming to fruition, Atmos Energy pushed the vision further by donating $25,000 to the only homeless shelter within a 190-mile radius. Jeff Daniel, Salvation Army commanding officer, and Susan Gilbert, social services program coordinator, gave a tour of the facility and the location for the new shelter to Atmos employees to show where its money will be going. The donation went toward the Salvation Army’s “Hope and a Future” campaign, a $2.25 million project to renovate and expand the northeast Mississippi campus. The Salvation Army surpassed its original goal by raising $2.4 million. Built in the mid-1980s, the shelter is too small for community needs and has never been updated since it was first constructed, Daniel said. Plans include a new Red Shield Lodge, computer lab, playground equipment, kitchen equipment and physical renovations to roofs and flooring. Daniel looks forward to installing new HVAC units, some which have been in the facility since it was built. “The units built 20 to 40 years ago weren’t nearly as energy efficient,” he said.