Teddy Holmes, 27, of Winlock, a volunteer at the Hub City Mission, carefully steps over belongings of the people staying at the Centralia cold-weather shelter during his shift on Monday night.
John Savage, a guest at the Hub City Mission Cold-Weather Shelter, sweeps away cigarette butts along the sidewalk outside the shelter on Tower Avenue in downtown Centralia on Monday night.
Teddy Holmes, 27, of Winlock, a volunteer at the Hub City Mission, takes a thermos back to the kitchen to fill with hot water for guests to use during his shift on Monday night at the cold-weather shelter in Centralia.
Michael Hilton, 32, plays guitar on his cot at the Hub City Mission cold-weather shelter on Monday night in downtown Centralia.
Madison Beasley, 22, of Chehalis, a volunteer at the Hub City Mission cold-weather shelter, listens to a guest as she fills out paper work in a binder during her shift on Monday night in downtown Centralia.
When the temperature drops to just a few degrees above freezing, the Lewis County Cold Weather Shelter serves as a lifeline to those who otherwise might freeze to death, but this year the shelter is scrambling to find enough volunteers to keep the doors open.
Traditionally, the shelter opened its doors when the temperature dropped down to 36 degrees, but to ease the suffering of the homeless, organizers bumped the maximum temperature up to 38 degrees.
“Two degrees makes quite a bit of difference when it’s real stormy and the wind is blowing,” said shelter Co-Director Robert Grimes.
Grimes said even though the wintry weather has just arrived, the diving temperatures have already sent the homeless searching for shelter. The shelter has already been on a 14-day run. It will likely be closed for the next five days, only to reopen for another long stretch.
“We’ve been full to the max,” Grimes said. “When the shelters were full down south, the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office brought someone up to us because their shelters were all full.”
It is the only wet shelter in the county, meaning it’s the only one that welcomes everyone — sober or not. The shelter serves both sexes, and has a sleeping quarter for women and children separate from the men.
Patty Smith, director of the Hub City Mission, said they keep track of how many beds are used, not how many nights the shelter is open. Last winter, 567 men stayed overnight, along with 36 women. The year before 650 people slept in the cots.
Although the winter has just begun, Grimes said, they’ve already seen about half the number of visitors as they had for all of last winter.
“More and more people are using it,” he said.
The shelter is run by Bethel Church as part of the church multiservice organization called the Hub City Mission.
Last year, the shelter purchased 30 new ones and a brand-new industrial washer and dryer set, thanks to a $4,000 donation from Fort Lewis-McChord.
While the shelter’s material infrastructure is in good condition, the human infrastructure is being strained. Of the roughly 70 people signed up to help out, about 50 actively assist in keeping the operation going. The volunteers who keep the doors open have been helping out for years and it’s taking a toll on them.
“A lot of people have been doing it for three years or more, they get kind of burned out, Grimes said.”
The shelter is open every day it’s needed 7 p.m.-7 a.m. with seven volunteers on hand at a time working 4-5 hour shifts.
“Our biggest need is volunteers to man it to be open more. That is our biggest critical concern,” Smith said. “The shifts that are hardest to fill are the ones that are later in the night.”
To increase the number of people helping out, the Hub City Mission has decided to hold a training at its facility at 416 N. Tower Avenue at 6 p.m. Monday and 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 12.
