When severe winter weather hit this week, Kate Budd and the Council for the Homeless were ready; they had been preparing for it since June.
“Last winter was really challenging,” said Budd, executive director for Council for the Homeless. “We recognized we could have coordinated with our community partners more greatly.”
The council and other local agencies — including Share, Food with Friends, Concerned Humans Against Poverty, the cities of Washougal and Vancouver and Clark County — started meeting in June as part of a Severe Weather Task Force to plan for the upcoming winter. Through those meetings, the council was able to secure shelter space at two additional churches for the winter: Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church and Immanuel Lutheran Church.
They’ve both been in use this week as snow and cold weather hit the county. Budd said there were about 11 people at Beautiful Savior, and Living Hope had 70-plus guests each night between Sunday and Tuesday.
Previously, Budd said the council and community partners would figure out which groups were available to help out when a storm popped up.
“It would usually come together,” she said. “We’ve been planning for this for much longer and knew which churches might be willing to open up. We also extended the hours for the housing hotline through Council for Homeless, so it’s open until 9 p.m. now. That helps ensure that folks who are interested in going into shelter have a chance of getting into shelter.”
The housing hotline, which can be reached at 360-695-9677, is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weeknights and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends. Budd said people can also call the coordinated outreach line at 360-723-5054 for transportation assistance if they’re someone looking for shelter for the night, or if they see someone out on the streets who might need shelter for the night.
The council uses the extra shelter space for severe winter-weather nights, which the council declares when the temperature is below 32 degrees or there is snow or freezing rain in the forecast.
Budd said it looked like the county would be in severe winter weather through Saturday.
“These facilities have now been open since Sunday night,” Budd said. “We always have a need for additional volunteers, if there are community volunteers interested in volunteering.”
Volunteers for the shelters are coordinated by Food With Friends. Anyone interested in volunteering can fill out an application at www.foodwithfriends.net/esva.
While there hasn’t been as much snow this winter as last, the county’s shelters have filled up, especially when those new shelters aren’t open.
“It has been a full winter,” Budd said. “The shelters that are regularly open during the winter have all been full. The need has certainly been apparent throughout the entire winter. People are interested in going into shelter. We don’t have the capacity to serve those who are interested in going into shelter on non-severe winter weather nights.”
That’s partly why Budd said planning so far ahead this winter and having the extra space has helped people throughout the county.
“We recognize it’s simply a matter of life and death,” Budd said. “We want to make sure people have a safe sleep for the night.”
