SHALOM will open its doors Sunday, providing some relief to the city’s two homeless shelters that are already operating at capacity.

Roy Ickes, director of SHALOM (Serving the Homeless with Alternative Lodging network Of Middletown), predicts the organization will exceed the 63 clients it served last year.

SHALOM, a network of area churches and agencies that provide temporary shelter and food for the homeless, assisted 48 men, 10 women and five children last year, including a family of seven, Ickes said. SHALOM has a capacity of 21.

There are 15 men on the waiting list at Hope House, a downtown homeless shelter whose 50 beds are full, and Ickles said he receives a steady number of inquiry calls daily about SHALOM openings.

A lack of quality education, low paying jobs, mental illness, and drug and alcohol addictions have contributed to the increase of homelessness in the Middletown area, according to Ickles.

“It all comes back to that,” he said.

SHALOM operates at First United Methodist, one of 10 area churches that will rotate hosting the homeless for one week through March 23.

The in-take process begins at 4 p.m. every day at the church, 120 S. Broad St. During the process, applicants are interviewed, and a background check is completed. The homeless are driven to a local church where they are served dinner, then return to First United Methodist. If the temperature is 15 degrees or colder, the homeless are allowed to stay at the church, Ickes said.

Once a week, they’re permitted to wash their clothes for free at Express Laundry in Middletown.

Ickes said social workers meet weekly to interview and advise each guest on how to apply for assistance that might empower them to become self-sufficient. This assistance may be in the form of medical care, food stamps, clothing, employment or housing, he said.

SHALOM was founded in 2002 when Hope House, because of limited funding, announced it was going to close, though that did not happened. SHALOM is seeking financial donations, toiletries and new white socks and underwear. Donations may be sent to First United Methodist Church.