Every time Tammy Finney sees a person walk in through the doors of The Salvation Army of North Texas Carr P. Collins Center, she sees herself in them. She sees hope.
The place that saved Finney, 44, will close its doors soon after almost 40 years of providing service, but a new chapter will begin.
On Tuesday, The Salvation Army of North Texas will break ground on a 21-acre campus in the Stemmons Corridor in Dallas.
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Finney ended up at the doors of the center for the first time in 2010 after battling methamphetamine and opioid addiction since she was 14 years old. In her 20s she attempted suicide by jumping off a bridge.
Now she is a program manager for women and family services at The Salvation Army of North Texas.
“I wanted to share with other people that it’s possible that you can go through hard times in your life, but you do not have to be defined by your past,” Finney said. “We’re defined as people by the resilience that we show, by the things we do to overcome those obstacles in our lives.”
The campus will have an emergency shelter, inpatient and outpatient addiction recovery programs, shelter for survivors of domestic violence and sex trafficking, housing for veterans and family services including on-site child care and an on-site integrated medical, dental and behavioral health clinic.
The project is part of The Salvation Army’s $212.7 million One Army, Many Fronts campaign.
Lieutenant Colonel William Mockabee, the executive officer for the campaign, said the campus was part of conversations that started about ” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer” title=”https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2025/05/12/a-promise-of-god-the-salvation-army-is-breaking-ground-on-a-21-acre-campus-in-dallas/”>20 years ago on how to address the issues North Texans will face due to the region’s growth.
“We wanted to make sure that we didn’t just create a revolving door of giving people things. ‘Here’s groceries, come back next month.’ ‘Here’s clothes, come back next month,’” said Mockabee to The Dallas Morning News. “We wanted to take some steps to eliminate intergenerational poverty, and to do that, we felt that we needed to be very holistic in how we met those needs.”
‘A promise of God’
Finney’s last thought before jumping off the bridge was, “I’ll never be good enough.”
The new campus is not just a building for her; it’s a promise of God.
Finney’s journey to healing had several bumps.
She was charged with prescription fraud. After being released from a substance abuse felony program, Finney slipped back into the same lifestyle and ended up doing six years at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
After completing a 90-day substance abuse program for the second time, she was referred to the Carr P. Collins Center again. This time, she decided to transition into the women’s shelter. Her life began to take another direction.
Finney said the people in the shelter supported her with compassion and a holistic approach that encouraged her to enroll in school. She went to community college and transferred to Texas A&M University in Commerce for her bachelor’s and master’s degrees to become a licensed master social worker.
“While receiving the services at The Salvation Army, I truly began to understand that I was good enough. I had a multitude of people surrounding me. The Salvation Army isn’t just an organization,” Finney said. “They were my family that poured into me, believed in me, saw things in me that I couldn’t really see. It’s like they could see a bigger version, a future version of me.”
She returned to the same place that gave her a second chance. She wants to encourage people to believe in themselves, in their purpose.
“My purpose is when you crawl yourself out of a really deep, dark hole — through blood, sweat and tears — and when you make it to the top, you reach back, and you help the next person climb out of that really deep, dark hole,” Finney said.
In times of need
As the city of Dallas and other cities across North Texas continue to face challenges in curbing homelessness, The Salvation Army wants to step in with this campus to help.
Housing Forward, an organization that works with the homeless community, counted 3,718 people experiencing homelessness on a single night in Dallas and Collin counties in 2024.
Christina Cavalier, senior director of community relations for The Salvation Army, said her team already works with the city of Dallas and the Office of Homelessness Solutions on multiple programs to help house people across the city and, when inclement weather occurs, provide emergency shelters for those in need.
Related:‘Not just a number’: How annual Point-in-Time Count snapshots homelessness in North Texas
Cavalier said the city of Dallas is one of the many institutions that will partner with the team to provide multiple services in the new campus.
Mockabee said he is aware that many homeless people don’t want to seek shelter for different reasons, but based on their experience, the new campus will try to accommodate as many as possible with different features so that people feel comfortable stepping inside.
The campus will have a dog kennel so people can take their pets with them without abandoning them. There will also be a DART station that facilitates access for those coming and leaving. Additionally, a chapel is planned for those looking to connect with their faith.
There will be a clinic on campus in partnership with Parkland Health, Metrocare Services and The Salvation Army, that will offer integrated medical, dental and behavioral health services.
The new campus, expected to open in two years, will be at 8625 N Stemmons Freeway west of Love Field.
For those interested in volunteering their time, resources, or money, visit The Salvation Army of North Texas website.
