Central Iowa Shelter & Services

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Donation Update!

Thank you for the abundance of donations we have recieved! As we have fully stocked our clothing closet, we need food pantry items and miscellaneous cold weather items (ie: hats, gloves, etc). All donations MUST be by appointment for the foreseeable future. Please contact Melissa G at 515-564-5752 to schedule a time for donation drop-off.
The Other Side

Jason found himself homeless, no job, and decided to move in with some ‘friends’ in Oregon during the beginning of the pandemic. Shortly after, he was kicked out and lost what money he did have. Jason came to Des Moines in July after learning his father had COVID-19 and has been here at CISS since.

Read His Story
New Staff Alert!

Meet Tammy Weir, our Payroll & HR Specialist. She's in charge of not only making sure our administrative and shelter staff get what they need in terms of financial support and resources, but our job trainees as well! Tammy holds to Bachelor’s degrees, one in Accounting and the other in Health Services. She also has an A.A in Medicine. She has years of experience in staff accounting and being a controller. Tammy and her family (husband and 3 kids) moved from LA to Iowa 8 years ago for her husband's job. 4 years ago, while Tammy was going to school at Mercy, a part of her health program was to do service hours at a nonprofit. She picked CISS to serve at and worked in different areas around the shelter. When she saw our job opening this year, she was excited to apply with how familiar she already was with the shelter.

Our Impact This Year

Number of People Served This Year

2,323
Volunteer Hours This Year

18,664
Lbs harvested from Mulberry Farms & Food This Year

10,228

News & Events

January 6, 2021

Des Moines shelter ramps up help, creates new program to assist the homeless

DES MOINES, Iowa — In 2020, many Iowans faced uncertainty about keeping a roof over their heads due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Central Iowa Shelter & Services in Des Moines helped many out who were facing homelessness, or just became homeless, by finding them places to live.

To make sure the shelter did not become a virus hotspot, officials started moving some occupants into public or private housing.

December 30, 2020

Organization says number of homeless in need of shelter is down in DSM

About 130 people are in the Central Iowa Shelter and Services Center downtown right now. Normally this time of year that number is around 200.

December 24, 2020

Christmas cold snap brings concerns for the homeless population

"There is a big risk of people getting frostbite so we also welcome them to come in and get a coat or anything from our clothing closet," said Mellissa Gradischnig, with Central Iowa Shelter and Services.

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