A free hot lunch is served daily at the Salvation Army in Conroe, and anywhere from 150 to 180 people a day eat there.

There was a full house for lunch Wednesday at the Salvation Army in Conroe, just as there is every day. Beginning at 11:30 a.m., men and women stream in for a hot meal prepared and served daily by volunteers from local churches.

Most days, the Salvation Army sees about 130 to 150 people for lunch, administrative clerk and caseworker Nora Tatum said. But that number has risen over the past two weeks to 180.

“There have been no leftovers,” she said.

That increase is symptomatic of the rising need at the Salvation Army, and one reason why the Salvation Army of Greater Houston is beginning a campaign this year to raise $1.5 million to expand the Conroe facility – especially its emergency shelter.

The fundraising project would double the number of beds and family rooms at the only county shelter that provides temporary housing for men, women and families, Tatum said.

According to an e-mail from Salvation Army Greater Houston Command Spokesman Juan Alanis, the expansion also would include cafeteria and multi-use space to allow for the expansion of existing programs.

But donations are down, said Capt. David Robinson, who directs the organization’s Montgomery County operations.

“Red kettle” donations at Christmas – the Salvation Army’s largest annual fundraiser – showed a 17 percent drop throughout the Greater Houston area in 2008 from the previous year, Alanis said.

The Conroe facility has 20 beds for men, 18 for women and two family rooms. The facility averages seven women a night, Robinson said. The men’s dormitory, however, is always full.

“We average 24-26 men a night,” he said. “We’re overflow 90 percent of the time.”