Delco struggles to get through the winter’s big freeze
CHESTER » Cityteam Ministries was in overdrive Thursday, dishing out fresh produce to churches and shelters in the region as well as taking in mass donations of clothes amidst the most brutal cold front of the season thus far.
With temperatures at freezing or below for the next week, the northeastern United States and certainly the Philadelphia metropolitan area and Delaware County will face “Code Blue” conditions as agencies scramble to find safe shelter for the homeless.
Thursdays are special at Cityteam as it’s one of the few food pantries in the region that supplies fresh vegetables year-round thanks to distributions from Philabundance. Looking to stock food at local shelters, churches and nonprofits, recipients filed in throughout the day to load up on fixings for hot holiday meals.
“They’re very generous. They keep in touch when they have a need. This is the backbone for us, a staple,” said Halim Nix, who was gathered the goods for Bold in Green of Sharon Hill, a nonprofit dedicated to offering activities, mentoring, motivation, and education to youth and families.
David Much of Cityteam said the organization offers 80,000 meals a year and currently houses 50 men in the dormitory. He said since the beginning of the cold snap, more and more people are coming for the hot dinner, but less have arrived for the produce pickup since the temperature dropped.
Delaware County offers a number of services for the homeless. During “Cold Blue” conditions, teams will drive in search of unsheltered people and bring them to a warm place for the night.
According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 2,000 people in the United States die from weatherrelated factors. Of those 2,000 or more, 63 percent were attributed to exposure to excessive natural cold or hypothermia or both.
Homeless people in Chester and other areas in Delaware County are able in certain circumstances to turn to the Delaware County Division of Adult and Family Services, the Coalition of Delaware County, the County Office of Services for the Aging, the County Department of Intercommunity Health and the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
However, Donna Blair, 53, of Darby, who sat along Avenue of the States in Chester Thursday afternoon, said she was having difficulty finding services for women. Short of options in Darby, she can’t stay overnight at the men-only Cityteam facility and as a non-senior and without child she doesn’t qualify for the County Office of Services for the Aging or the nonprofit Mother’s Home.
The County Department of Intercommunity Health provides information to help people avoid medical emergencies, such as hypothermia and frostbite, during Code Blue conditions, but she said she was expecting another restless night through the bitter cold.
Blair said she’s been homeless for “a while ... years.”
Blair was preparing for another night exposed to the cold as the sun began to set. Not one for staying in abandoned buildings, there was a spot not too far away that she typically spent nights. But said she would not find rest as temperatures dropped to 12 degrees overnight.
“I did pamphlets and phone numbers and called and no one could help me. I grew up in Darby and there’s no help there,” Blair said. “When you’re struggling and homeless there’s no help unless you’re on an addiction or something.”