Josh Roberts, 33, reads through horoscopes while other patrons of the Lewis County Cold Weather Shelter watch a movie as the Tower Avenue shelter opened for the first night this fall in Centralia.
Carl Bohlin, the founder and operator of the Lewis County Cold Weather Shelter, sets up a DVD player for visitors looking to get out of the chilly weather on Monday night in Centralia.
Josh Roberts, 33, smokes a cigarette outside the Lewis County Cold Weather Shelter at 416 Tower Ave. in Centralia on Monday night.
Carl Bohlin, left, the founder and operator of the Lewis County Cold Weather Shelter, looks on as Jimmy Robinette, center, a volunteer at the shelter, hands Dale Drew, right, coffee grounds as they prepare serve up fresh coffee for the visitors of the shelter on Monday night in Centralia.
Dale Drew, left, takes two bowls of potato soup from Jimmy Robinette, a volunteer at the Lewis County Cold Weather Shelter, as they dish up dinner for the visitors on Monday night in Centralia.
Josh Roberts, 33, takes a bowl of potato soup that Dale Drew, right, served up on Monday night at the Lewis County Cold Weather Shelter at 416 Tower Ave. in Centralia.
Josh Roberts, 33, looks through horoscopes after he finished a bowl of potato soup at the Lewis County Cold Weather Shelter at 416 Tower Ave. in Centralia. Roberts, from the Kelso-Longview area, said he tried to get some of his buddies to come down to the shelter, but it was too far of a walk from where they were currently staying. With weather forecasts calling for night-time temperatures to drop into the mid-to-low 30s, the shelter will most likely stay open for the next few days, according to Carl Bohlin, the founder and operator of the cold weather shelter.
Like the people it serves, the Lewis County Cold Weather Shelter has a tendency to slip through the cracks.
The shelter's mission is simple: save lives. But to fulfill that mission — without condition — the shelter must forgo grants, which often carry specific requirements, and instead rely on donations that can be used as needed.
Though the shelter's system is far from predictable, it's one that, so far, has worked, said Carl Bohlin, the founder and operator of the cold weather shelter.
"We are a no-questions-asked facility. We don't ask names, we don't ask history, and we're not here to run warrant checks. We're here to help (people), so they don't get sick and die under the bridges," Bohlin said. "I don't know for sure if we've saved any lives, but I'm sure we have."
Housed at 416 N. Tower Ave. in a building owned by Destiny Christian Center, the shelter opens its doors when temperatures dip below 36 degrees.
Those without a warm place to stay are welcome to weather the night there. Sometimes, donated food — anything from stews and casseroles to Cup of Noodle soups — is available. Other times, it isn't.
"We give them a sleeping bag and a place to keep warm, and then get them up in the morning and out the door," Bohlin said. "We give them what we can."
Now in its fifth year of existence, the shelter has become a relied upon facility for those in need — sometimes for people just out of prison, other times for transients, and sometimes for those who are just down on their luck.
"Not everybody is homeless because of addiction. It's just how life is sometimes, and it's real frustrating for them," Bohlin said.
In its first three years, the shelter provided about 1,900 bed-nights. Last year, the shelter provided 1,300 bed-nights, or shelter for more than 150 different people, each of whom used the shelter for an average of six nights.
This year, the shelter has provided about 150 bed-nights since it opened at the end of October — a slower start than usual, according to Bohlin.
He attributes the change, in part, to the weather, and in part, to the success of community programs, including the one tenth of one percent sales tax that is used for mental health and chemical dependency programs
"It's made a difference. I see the recovery community all the time, and things are just a little different this year," Bohlin, who also sits on the board of trustees for the county's XII Step program, said.
"But it's probably too early to tell," he added. "We're just starting our cold streak, I think."
The Lewis County Commission on Monday approved continuation of the one tenth of one percent sales tax, to be used for mental health, chemical dependency and therapeutic courts.
They approved $85,000 in funding for the Lewis County Shelter Program, to provide short-term services for those who are high utilizers of the county jail and emergency room. Doing so, the commissioners said, lessens the burden on county and city resources.
The commissioners also approved a $65,000 contract between the county and Reliable Enterprises, which, through Magnolia House in Centralia, provides midterm services for five to seven clients.
"Even with this (funding), we still have those issues out there," Commissioner Lee Grose said Monday. "We're doing what we can with the money we have to help people in the community with those kinds of problems."
"Mental health is problem in our community that we, as citizens, often try to sweep under the rug," Commissioner Ron Averill added. "It's becoming a far more difficult problem because the state has gradually moved itself out of the business and removed the beds at the eastern and western hospitals."
"All too often… our jail becomes the provider for these mentally ill," Averill said. "We need to find these people who are seriously mentally disturbed and get them help. It's not just Columbine or the Sandy Hook school … It is a serious problem, and we have to get serious about it."
