By Addison Jacoby, IU Corps Intern
Beacon is a community organization dedicated to providing a range of solutions for people in poverty living in Bloomington and Monroe County. They have six programs, including the Shalom Day Center, outreach services, and soon the Beacon Center.
The Shalom Day Center is a big resource hub for people to come in and see a caseworker, do laundry, get their mail, and eat food. Within Shalom Center is Phil’s Kitchen, which serves breakfast and lunch five days a week.
Outside of the Shalom Center, Beacon has a street outreach program where a caseworker delivers services to people in encampments. They also offer a family housing program to help those who have recently become homeless with the expensive start-up costs to get back into a home quickly. And their two other physical locations are Friend’s Place, a 40-bed overnight emergency shelter for women and LGBTQ+ individuals in the area, and their permanent supportive housing program located at Crawford Apartments.
On September 23, 2025, Beacon broke ground for the Beacon Center at 1201 W 3rd St. Beacon Center is a two-story, 45,000 sq ft facility with 25 apartments for people formerly experiencing homelessness. Twenty apartments will be for people with disabilities and five apartments will be available through work exchange, meaning people will get their rent in exchange for doing security or maintenance in the building. The main floor will combine their day center and overnight shelter. Amy Kendall is the Development Director at Beacon who is leading the project. In 2027, they anticipate that the Beacon Center will open.
“We will actually leave our two [current] locations and move into the Beacon Center,” Kendall said. “We’ll add more beds, and we won’t have the bunk beds anymore. Instead, it’ll be semi-private rooms for a lot more dignity for our guests. We’ll also have beds for couples and allow pets. For people with lived experience, these are barriers to them going into shelters, so we want to eliminate those.”
Not only will their current services be offered, but they will also offer employment help and be co-located with partners.
Co-location means that their partners will have a space on-site to deliver services.
“We will work with local partners to help people with resumes, cover letters, job interviews, job searches, and things like that,” Kendall said. “Another real improvement in the day center will be co-located. For example, Health Net will have a clinic where they can just see people in our building without traveling and Centerstone will also be there to deliver mental health services. We’ve really been wanting to co-locate with partners and expand into employment services for a while, so we see it as a big step toward better helping our clients.”
One of the main components of helping their clients is consistent service through volunteers. Beacon has volunteer opportunities at each of their different locations, but the most opportunities are at the Shalom Center within Phil’s Kitchen. Each shift is two hours long and they need volunteers from 7:30 a.m.–2 p.m. Tory Crowe, the Volunteer Coordinator, noted that they generally ask for a one shift a week commitment.
“We have around 110 volunteers, so when we say that the volunteers help this center exist, it’s not an exaggeration at all,” Crowe said. “We could not provide the services that we do without those volunteers.”
Other spots for volunteering are at the hospitality desk at Shalom, as staff support at Friend’s Place, or at the food pantry on Mondays. The volunteers work 2-hour shifts from 8 a.m.–4 p.m. at the hospitality desk, 5–7 p.m. at Friend’s Place, or 12:30–2:30 p.m. at the food pantry.
“At the desk you get the most face-to-face interaction with our clients because they’re constantly coming up,” Crowe said. “We have awesome people who come in to get to use our services, so it’s a really good way to build relationships there. Staff support is like the hospitality desk but calmer and helping people get settled in for the night.”
Overall, volunteers are crucial to Beacon, and they are always looking for more. To apply as a volunteer, fill out the online volunteer application. For IU students who are volunteering as part of community engagement or a service-learning course requirement, email Beacon’s Advocate for Community Engagement at ACE@beaconinc.org. Crowe noted that if you can’t commit to volunteering, they also love donation drives as a way to get hygiene products and things that they run out of a lot.
“Beacon can change people’s lives, and I’m always excited when students come in because you can just see the change and it’s wonderful,” Crowe said.
