SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - Heartland Continuum of Care is asking the community to contribute their ideas for a long term strategic plan for the capitol city.

The short term phase of the plan was the overflow shelter on Eleventh and Jefferson, which opened on Nov. 1.

Salvation Army Captain Jeff Eddy said so far, the facility has seen success.

"The community has been very supportive. I think people can see the difference it's making, they know that it's a good thing," said Eddy. "It's us working together, it's not just Salvation Army in this case, so I think that's a really important aspect of it."

This past weekend the shelter saw a large crowd with the dipping temperatures.

"This weekend was definitely the largest population we've had," Eddy said. "It was pretty cold this weekend and we had as many as 37 people each night, which our posted capacity is 40, so we're getting close. But we're still working with all the agencies. We make sure that the other shelters are full first before anybody comes in and everything is working well."

The Heartland Continuum of Care is the lead agency creating the long term plan. Coordinator Josh Sabo said leaders want the community to contribute to that.

"What we're hoping to do is to fill the community in on how the strategic planning process is going so far," Sabo said. "We've identified community needs and the next step is to begin to engage the community around those needs and begin developing the process and the strategy for improving the services and the housing that's available in our community."

The community feedback is being gathered in a set of forums. One was held online and three will be held in person on Tuesday, Nov. 16. 

More information on the forums and how to register can be found here.Â