Keeping the homeless warm
City, nonprofits work together to help people weather snow
Those staying overnight usually must leave the shelter by
6 a.m.
The day shelter was made possible by the city of Las Vegas, which announced Wednesday night, just as the first flakes began to fall, that it would provide the nonprofit with additional sleeping mats for Wednesday and Thursday.
That meant the Salvation Army could fill its building adjacent to its existing shelter with more men and women.
“We didn’t have weather like this last year,” city spokesman Jace Radke said. “We provided places for the homeless to be able to go and stay warm and have a safe place.”
To keep the shelter open
during the day, the city will reimburse the nonprofit $4,800 for the additional staff, Radke said. The city is also assisting the Las Vegas Rescue Mission by providing an additional security guard to open the cafeteria as a temporary shelter.
The Salvation Army’s existing building sleeps about 71 men and 35 women a night. Opening the adjacent building allowed the organization to more than double its occupancy, said Juan Salinas, its assistant director of social services.
“It’s somewhere to stay out of the elements, to come in and stay warm, not get wet outside in the freezing cold. It’s a sigh of relief,” Salinas said.
And the shelter did not have to turn anyone down.
“I was walking our campus last night, and I was freezing cold,” he said. “And I put myself in somebody else’s shoes, where they have
nothing, and they’re out there, and they just have to live with it. That’s a tough thing.”
On Thursday, the women and men were separated, as they always are, and watched movies as they kept out of the cold. They filed in quickly, and more than 400 came in for their daily community meal at 1:30 p.m.
“It’s amazing how fast word travels on the street,” said Leslee Rogers, spokeswoman for the nonprofit’s local chapter.
“Thank you for letting us in,” said Zachary Saucedo, a homeless man whose wife was staying at
The Shade Tree shelter for women. They’re expecting their second child.
“I have no business being outside in this,” Saucedo added.
A glowing warmth
Another facet of the city’s efforts to keep the valley’s most vulnerable warm is the 32 heaters placed at the Courtyard Homeless Resource Center on Foremaster Lane and Las
Vegas Boulevard North.
The courtyard, a 24/7 facility that offers a place for homeless to sleep on mats and offers a number of services during the day, was lit Friday afternoon by the glow of the heaters.
“The snow, it prevents them from sleeping,” one security guard commented as he stood by. He usually watches the roughly 200 people who usually sleep at the courtyard.
On Thursday night, though, it wasn’t as crowded.
One man, basking in the radiation, used a metal can lid to spoon himself canned spaghetti. Another man drew pictures on the table. He wore nothing but a pair of slacks in the snow until a passer-by offered him a jean jacket,.
“It’s cold, and I ain’t got no fur coat,” said Donald Rice, 56. “At night, we’re all packed like sardines, so it gets warmer.”
Nearby, a couple, who said they both have diabetes, shivered underneath their brown comforter. Charles Peterson and his pregnant
fiancee, Edith, have been homeless for the past four months.
When it snowed Wednesday, they slept in the parking lot across from the neon-red Jerry’s Nugget sign.
By Thursday afternoon, their only clothes, socks and shoes were still wet as they sat under the heater.
“We’re not going to split ourselves up. We’d rather stay out in the cold and freeze a bit just to stay together,” said Charles Peterson, a Marine Corps veteran.
Next to him, his fiancee’s hands shook with cold. That morning, they ate at Catholic Charities. For the rest of the night, they’d eat chocolate bars and almond cookies and drink orange juice to keep their blood sugar up and remain energetic.
“We’ve got to rely on each other,” Peterson said. “We’re all homeless, and we’re all family.”
Contact Briana Erickson at berickson@reviewjournal. com or 702-387-5244. Follow @brianarerick on Twitter.