Severe Weather Shelter Open Record Number of Nights, Most of February

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Hub City Mission’s severe weather shelter at the fairgrounds has been open every night since Feb. 2 — the longest stretch of days that the shelter has ever been open in a row.

Current forecasts indicate that the streak won’t be ending anytime soon, either. They open doors each night temperatures dip to 38 degrees or lower, meaning they’ll likely be open well into March.

“It’s like winter saved everything for one month,” said Josh Gering, the director of Bethel Church’s Hub City Mission.

The last record was 21 nights in a row.

The severe weather shelter is an operation run by Hub City Mission to provide a warm place to sleep for the transient population during winter. They’re able to house 50 people per night.

By Wednesday, the shelter had recorded 1,898 bed nights. Last year, there were 1,965 through the entire cold season. They average more than 30 people per night, said Laura Hasbrook, volunteer coordinator for the mission.

With a volunteer force close to 150 people, Hub City Mission’s leadership was confident that the current slew of volunteers keeping the shelter going each night will pull through this latest stretch of cold.

As they face the possibility of a couple more weeks open every night, Hasbrook said volunteers are the most precious resource going forward.

“You have to have 10 volunteers per night, and that used to be a concern until we watched that our volunteers just continue to do, and I’m convinced that it’s going to happen,” she said.

Each night is split into three shifts. More volunteers work on the first and third shift than the second, because they need to keep check in and out moving along. Volunteers seem to span demographics, including younger and elderly people. Hasbrook said it’s amazing to see how many people respond when they’re told they need a hand.

“What’s been happening lately, and it’s blowing my mind — this never happens — they text me, ‘Hey, do you have any openings, what do you have covered?’” said Hasbrook.

A volunteer training event will take place 6 p.m. Monday at Hub City Mission located at 416 N. Tower Ave. There will be a training demonstration and a mandatory background check for anyone interested in becoming a volunteer.

This season is also the first time the shelter has been in a permanent building on the fairgrounds. Last year, temporary structures were set up to separately house men and women. They likely wouldn’t have had room for all the people coming in out of the cold this year in the previous shelter, said Hasbrook. They were able to hold 23 men and 15 women.

Now, they can house 50 people total, with the men’s room taking up the majority of those beds. More men come to the shelter than women, said Hasbrook.

A large, adjacent room could hold more cots if the shelter needs to expand. However, Gering said, it would need a few touches like smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

Gering said clothing donations, specifically gloves, are always welcome, as are monetary donations. Expenses add up, said Gering and Hasbrook, though a number of public and private entities consistently lend a hand.

The county provides some funding, as do both Centralia and Chehalis city governments. Gering said they received a grant from the Emergency Food Shelter Program, through FEMA.

Recently, the Centralia Downtown Association provided the shelter $501. That money went to purchase six new cots and eight new cot pads, said Gering.

“The generosity of this community amazes me,” he said, adding later: “If you feel like the world is on its way down, this shelter will encourage you to know that there’s a lot of great people. A lot of great people that care about others,” said Gering.