WASHOUGAL — Washougal’s two severe weather shelters are merging in an effort to expand life-saving services needed by residents.
ReFuel Washougal’s overnight severe weather shelter has joined forces with the Camas-Washougal Salvation Army’s day shelter to create the Washougal Community Severe Weather Shelter, which will operate out of the Salvation Army, 1612 I St., Washougal.
“It makes sense,” Salvation Army Director Samantha Wheeler said. “It seems like a perfect fit, and it’s natural that it would kind of happen this way. I think it’s going to be a good thing for everybody involved.”
The combined shelter will help limited resources go further.
“There are so many pluses to this,” said Tia Billings, ReFuel’s severe weather shelter coordinator.
The new shelter offers 22 beds, a hygiene center and food, according to Wheeler.
The shelter will also be able to house pets in the event of severe weather.
“There will be some guidelines that (pet owners will) need to follow — the pets can’t create a disturbance — but we certainly will try to accommodate people with their pets,” she said. “I know that there are some people who wouldn’t come into a shelter situation because they couldn’t bring their pets.”
The ReFuel shelter has operated in Washougal since the winter of 2017. It was at St. Matthews Lutheran Church in its first year, then moved to the Washougal Community Center.
Billings took the reins from Robert Barber, the shelter’s first coordinator and pastor of St. Matthew’s.
“My son and I used to stay at the shelter, and so I felt that I really knew what the people needed because of our experiences,” she said.
ReFuel leaders began searching for a new home for the shelter early this year after learning of the city of Washougal’s plans to close the community center in the fall for renovation.
“I was definitely stressed because we don’t have very many options out here,” Billings said. “It kind of has been on our shoulders.”
Wheeler said the Salvation Army stepped in when the community asked.
“We love partnering with others to make our community a better place,” Wheeler said. “We’ve worked closely with ReFuel and the city. … Now we’ll just be open 24 hours. If people in the community need a place to go to stay warm and safe, that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to stay open.”
Rose Jewell, the city of Washougal’s community engagement manager, helped coordinate the logistics. Jewell serves on the boards of both ReFuel and the Salvation Army.
The merger is expected to be permanent, according to Billings and Wheeler.
The Washougal Community Severe Weather Shelter will be activated during severe winter weather, when temperatures are expected to be at or below 30 degrees.
But the shelter can only open if there are enough volunteers.
“We have had some returning volunteers already; it’s like the one volunteer thing that they do every year,” Billings said. “We’ve got some really good core people, but unfortunately, it’s not enough. … We couldn’t just rely on the core people because it wouldn’t be enough to be open. We’re always taking in new volunteers.”
Volunteers must attend a training class and complete a background check before signing up for shifts for the 2024-25 season. The next class will be held in January.
For more information about the training classes, call the Salvation Army at 360-835-3171 or email jessica.wheeler@usw.salvationarmy.org.
