Shelters pitching in as bitter cold arrives
People looking for help also are offered food, blankets
As the sun set and temperatures dropped, people seeking shelter from Tuesday night’s cold were already arriving at the Fellowship Hall at Bethany United Methodist Church on Eisenhauer Road.
Rivercity Outreach, the church’s mission to the hungry and homeless, had been preparing for the first cold snap for weeks, said Albert Gonzalez, known as “Pastor Gonzo.” Volunteers who had brought soup and stew, fruit and casseroles, were searching the kitchen for sugar to serve with the coffee as the first arrivals sat at tables and ate bags of popcorn.
Outside, a few more were smoking and arranging their belongings before heading indoors. The shelter has been open on cold nights for years, so people know to come through word of mouth, Gonzalez said.
Other shelters were opening as forecasters said the unusually early first freeze of the fall would send temperatures into the 20s.
The lobbies of the Salvation Army’s Emergency Family Shelter and Dave Coy Center were open, with overflow space for 20 to 25 people, spokesman Brad Mayhar said. On Monday night, 140 people stayed at the family shelter, and the lobby was full, too.
The Salvation Army also handed out blankets and soup Tuesday afternoon, and it opened temporary warming stations for people looking to get out of the cold.
Both shelters open when temperatures drop below 32 degrees, meaning they likely won’t be open tonight, with slightly higher low temperatures predicted. Cory Van Pelt, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Austin/San Antonio office, said temperatures are expected stay above freezing for the rest of the week.
Highs in the mid-50s to mid-60s were expected today, Thursday and Friday, and skies should
remain clear until Saturday night, Van Pelt said.
But first, forecasters predicted a low of 27 degrees this morning, which would break the 102-yearold record for Nov. 14 of 28 degrees.
That kind of cold increases the chance of heaters causing fires, which prompted the San Antonio Fire Department to remind residents to take precautions and use appliances safely.
And it’s dangerous for people “who are down on their luck” and need somewhere to warm to stay, Gonzalez said. At Bethany, 13 guests had checked in by 6 p.m. but he was expecting more. The church had room for about 50.