Some people had abandoned their tents set up outside Share House in downtown Vancouver so they could seek shelter inside. Others were trying to dig their tents out of the snow or build a fire to stay warm at the homeless encampment.
Jeff Talbott and Mary Pekkala offered warm coffee to those people who remained outside in below-freezing temperatures. The couple set up a table on Lincoln Avenue with a coffee dispenser, snacks and hand warmers. Pekkala gave away some jackets and sweatshirts.
“This is awesome,” said Alexander Graham, who is homeless. “It’s always good when people come down and talk to us.”
Talbott runs Kleen Street Recovery Cafe with his brother, Joey Wild. The cafe at 5317 N.E. St. Johns Road helps people, mostly veterans, who come to the cafe looking to get connected to services.
“I knew that we weren’t going to be open today,” Talbott said. He believes God spoke to him and told him to help people on the streets by offering a warm drink. “This is our second trip down here today. We went and got more coffee, drinks, little snacks, whatever we can. We pulled stuff out of our own cupboards.”
They plan to return Thursday with more coffee and supplies.
“I wish more people could get out here and do this,” Talbott said. “We should be like vendors lined up out here for the homeless. … Why shouldn’t we bring this to them?”
When the area around Share House was described as Skid Row, he said, “This is Hope Avenue. This ain’t Skid Row.”
Community Services NW also stopped by the encampment to hand out gloves, jackets and hand warmers. And people staying in the encampment said other people had visited the area offering supplies.
Graham estimated about 50 people are staying in the encampment. When the snow began falling on Tuesday, people were scrambling to keep snow off tents.
“It just hit instantly,” said Tiffany Singleton, who was tending a fire.
She said it’s been busy in the encampment around Share House and she plans to stay outside because she feels needed.
Richard Petersen found shelter by the Public Service Center on Wednesday afternoon while he waited for the men’s shelter at St. Paul Lutheran Church to open for the night.
“I would be at the library, probably,” he said, but all of the Fort Vancouver Regional libraries were closed Wednesday. But with holiday closures he said he’s used to being outside during the day sometimes.
St. Paul opens early when it can find volunteers to staff it, Petersen said.
Overflow shelters open
Churches and other facilities operating overflow shelters and warming centers for the homeless were open Wednesday.
The Rev. Jessie Smith at St. Anne’s Episcopal Church in Washougal got snowed in Tuesday night with clients at the church’s overnight warming shelter. A handful of people who are part of the church’s car-camping program stay inside the church during severe weather.
“We’ve watched lots of movies,” Smith said.
She said the church opened its warming center for a week, closed on Monday, and then reopened it Tuesday night.
The Vancouver Housing Authority offered to open what used to be the Rise & Stars Community Center. While the community center hasn’t been in operation for a while and will be torn down to make way for an apartment complex, the building still has heat and electricity, said Peggy Sheehan, manager of Vancouver’s community development program. It hasn’t been used as a warming center before.
The community center is at 500 Omaha Way, just off Andresen Road, within Skyline Crest, a 20-acre subsidized housing community in the Vancouver Heights neighborhood.
Living Hope Church opened an overnight warming center at its chapel, at 2533 N.E. Andresen Road. It’ll be open 6 p.m. to 9 a.m. every day through Sunday morning.
The day center and overnight warming center at Friends of the Carpenter was open Tuesday and Wednesday. The facility manager lives nearby and was able to get the driveway and walkway cleared, said Tom Iberle, who heads the nonprofit.
“People are managing and staying warm,” Iberle said. “They’re doing OK.”
Iberle said vehicles were stuck on the West Fourth Plain Boulevard overpass that leads to Friends of the Carpenter.
The overnight Winter Hospitality Overflow shelters at St. Andrew Lutheran Church and St. Paul Lutheran Church still opened. Regular permanent shelters operated by Share have been consistently full and open extra spaces during extreme weather.
