After criticism during severe cold snap, Bloomington sets up emergency shelter

Boris Ladwig, The Herald-Times
·2 min read
Kay, who is homeless, gathers belongings from an encampment near Wheeler Mission the city of Bloomington cleared last month.
Kay, who is homeless, gathers belongings from an encampment near Wheeler Mission the city of Bloomington cleared last month.

A month after volunteers scrambled to find emergency shelter to prevent homeless people from freezing to death, Mayor Kerry Thomson and local faith leaders are set to launch a severe weather emergency shelter for women.

“That is ready to go,” Thomson told city council members recently.

Two downtown churches will provide emergency shelter during certain weather conditions, including when temperatures are forecast to be below 20 degrees, when the forecast calls for more than 3 inches of snow or when the weather service issues a wind chill warning.

When those conditions are met, the churches, First Christian Church, 205 E. Kirkwood Ave., and First United Methodist Church, 219 E. Fourth St., will contact community members to spread the word the shelter is open, but people also can simply drop by, said Sarah Lynne Gershon, associate minister at First Christian.

In January, near zero temperatures prompted an ad-hoc group of Bloomington volunteers to find temporary shelter space to prevent 10-20 local homeless people from freezing to death. One of the volunteers had said she was disheartened by the lack of urgency she felt from local government, agencies and the community at large. The volunteers at the time also called for the community to set up a protocol, with designated shelter, gear and volunteers, that is activated at certain temperature thresholds.

Near zero temps: Monroe County volunteers scramble to prevent homeless people from freezing to death

Gershon said she attended recent meetings in which Thomson called on faith leaders to help provide emergency shelter yet this winter. Gershon emailed other faith leaders and helped put together a team of volunteers to organize shelter locations and staffing.

The churches’ capacity, she said, is 20 beds, which will be for women, including trans and nonbinary.

The churches provided training in mid-February to volunteers who are to staff the shelters overnight to ensure a hospitable and clean environment for the guests. The orientations included training for de-escalation and hand-held metal detectors.

Gershon said this week the churches would be happy to welcome additional volunteers. You can email btownsevereshelter@gmail.com or call First Christian at 812-332-4459 or First United Methodist at 812-332-6396.

Staff from First United Methodist could not be reached. Neither could Mary Morgan, director of Heading Home of South Central Indiana, an initiative funded with $5 million from the city and county to combat homelessness in Monroe, Morgan, Owen, Lawrence, Greene and Martin counties.

Boris Ladwig can be reached at bladwig@heraldt.com.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington churches to open shelters for women during cold, snow