HANCOCK COUNTY — Temperatures may indicate the dog days of summer are here, but emergency officials are already thinking about winter weather and how to provide shelter for vulnerable people when temperatures dip to dangerous lows.
Officials from the Hancock County Community Organization Active in Disaster, or COAD, recently held a brainstorming session with government and other leaders after difficulty was encountered last winter to open warming centers on cold nights.
Jim Peters, of the Salvation Army Hancock County, is one of the COAD board co-chairs and said county officials have decided to rebrand the organization’s winter warming message. Instead of trying to find a warming center for people who are homeless, they want to be known as offering a “safe place” for anyone who is in danger because of the weather.
“We want to have a safe place for anyone to come in if they don’t have heat at home,” Peters said. “Not everyone who needs heat is homeless, because there are a lot of people who have shelter but can’t pay both rent and utilities.”
One of the other issues officials wanted to solve was to make sure they were consistent with being able to offer shelter on the coldest nights, but any time from Nov. 15 through March 15.
Officials with Evangel Christian Church, 1221 E. Main St. in Greenfield, have agreed to be one of the places people will be able to seek shelter. Other churches and organizations are expected to come on board and establish a rotation of sites.
“That was one of our biggest challenges last winter, being able to find a place that could host people and get the word out there, but now we know several months in advance there will be a place people can go,” Peters said.
Andrea Mallory, executive director of Hancock Hope House, said the county’s homeless shelter will be the emergency backup warming center should the main sites struggle to get volunteers to work overnight.
“This is how a community should work,” Mallory said. “We offered many times to help out last year and decided to take it on, and we want to help again this year, too.”
Mallory noted it takes a lot of work for people to feel comfortable and step into a shelter for help. People are worried about safety, cleanliness and even the friendliness of staff. Some people worry that they’ll be reported to police if, for example, they have an outstanding warrant.
“We just know how important it is to be able to provide safety and consistency,” Mallory said.
The Kenneth Butler Memorial Soup Kitchen will be the command center for people to get information on where they can go. If the soup kitchen is closed, notice will be posted on the warming center’s location for that evening.
“People will be able to go to one of our designated places or the Hope House,” Peters said. “We now know there will be some place for people to stay warm at night.”
The “safe place” motto now associated with creating winter warming shelters means no questions will be asked of anyone in need. However, if a person does have a criminal record and can’t be around children, they’ll be take to the Wheeler Mission in Indianapolis.
With COVID last year, officials struggled to locate a shelter. They ended up relying on Hope House to take in those in need. While Mallory said they were glad to step up and help, Peters noted they needed to find other places.
Officials from COAD; Hancock County Emergency Management; the city of Greenfield; the Landing Place; Hope House; the Salvation Army and Love INC took part in the organizing effort. Churches also were represented.
Officials noted some people won’t come into a warming shelter because they don’t want to leave their pets, but Peters said they’re working on a place to shelter animals as well.
“We think we might have someone who can watch the animals overnight,” Peters said.
COAD will hold a training session for potential volunteers from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 16 at Calvary Baptist Church, 1450 W Main St., Greenfield. Organizers will need at least six volunteers each night a shelter is occupied.
Anyone interesting in helping or becoming a volunteer should reach out to Peters at [email protected] or call 317-372-2304. More details will also be available on the COAD’s Facebook page.
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Anyone interesting in helping to volunteer at a warming center this winter should reach out to Jim Peters at [email protected] or call 317-372-2304. More details also are available on COAD’s Facebook page.
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