Denver organization helping unhoused residents during ongoing winter weather
DENVER (KDVR) — The city and county of Denver opened a severe weather shelter Tuesday night at the McNichols Civic Center Building, with temperatures expected to reach below 20 degrees.
“They aren’t able to track the weather changes they are going through, and even if they do, they don’t have the resources to keep switching out their gear,” said V Reeves, an organizer at Housekeys Action Network Denver.
Photos: Aftermath of Tuesday’s snow squall across Denver area
The shelter opened at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 27, and will stay open until 9 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 28. Reeves said the shelter should be able to hold about 200 people.
“You can see there is plenty of winter left,” Reeves said. “There is plenty of snow still, so folks still need survival gear to make it through this.”
Reeves said their organization works to help be the voice of unhoused Coloradans, along with migrants and migrant families now living on the streets in Denver.
“We have a lot of fear about those families with little children stuck outside on a day like today,” Reeves said.
They said when temperatures drop or unhoused people are being swept off the street, overdoses are more likely to happen. They said during the cold, it can be attributed to unhoused people trying to stay warm.
“The humane thing is to meet people where they are at and make sure they survive while they make things better for themselves,” Reeves said.
Reeves said their organization is also working on a 5,280 goal for winter gear donations. They said right now, they have just over 4,000 donations but are looking for more. They said they are looking for items like gloves, hand warmers, tents, tarps and jackets.
How you can help migrants in Denver
They said they’ve set up an Amazon wishlist people can directly order from, or people can drop off donations in person.
The city and county of Denver sent out the following information on additional shelters around the city: “Individuals in need of shelter can also be referred to the city’s ‘front door’ shelter access points (denvergov.org/findshelter), which are also expanding their capacity for the cold weather.”
Front door shelters include:
For individual men – Lawrence Street Community Center, 2222 Lawrence St.
For individual women – Samaritan House, 2301 Lawrence St.
For youth ages 15-20 – Urban Peak, 2100 Stout St.
Families in need of shelter should call the Connection Center at 303-295-3366.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX31 Denver.
