As St. Paul cold snap continues, officers carry gloves, meat sticks and directions to warmth

Mara H. Gottfried, Pioneer Press
Updated ·7 min read

As the Rev. Darryl Spence and Andre Robinson walked through downtown St. Paul’s skyways Wednesday, they handed out gloves and meat sticks to those in need.

Robinson tried to convince two young men to take gloves, which had been donated and still had tags on them.

“You good, you good? Are you sure?” Robinson asked in a quick exchange. “Come on, man, your hands are gonna be freezing. You take a pair. If you need something, you know where I am, right?”

Both are Ramsey County sheriff’s office community service officers, which are civilian employees, and they’re plugged into the community. They know which people are homeless and they aim to offer help “without embarrassing them, without putting them on the spot,” Spence said.

During the recent cold snap, a network of St. Paul, Ramsey County and nonprofit workers have been working to get people into warm buildings for overnight stays, and to help those remaining outside to stay safe.

St. Paul’s Homeless Assistance Response Team (HART) is tracking 120 people living in tents at 23 encampments; there were 58 people at 33 encampments at the same time last year, according to Andrea Hinderaker, HART program coordinator. They’ve been coordinating with Ramsey County, which runs Winter Warming Spaces, to ensure they “have a warm, safe place to be throughout the coldest nights of the year,” Hinderaker said.

The Listening House, which recently opened a new day shelter near downtown St. Paul, has lately been “at capacity from the moment we open,” said Molly Jalma, executive director. Staff spends “the remainder of the day helping folks figure out their immediate plans for the upcoming overnight.”

“There are as many individual needs as there are people and we’ve yet to find a solution that works for everyone, but I can assure you many of us are sleepless with concern and effort,” Jalma said. “… The cold creates a very real crisis. … Our main objectives shift quickly to helping people keep themselves alive, protect as many body parts from frostbite as possible, and help navigate systems to secure a warm and safe environment to sleep. It’s a brutal challenge and not the time to be precious with resources.”

Winter Warming Spaces

Ramsey County’s Winter Warming Spaces, which opened in November and are scheduled to close at the end of March, are open from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. and available for women at the Newell Park Building, at the Phalen Activity Center and Union Gospel Mission Twin Cities for men, and at Central Baptist Church for families and youth ages 14 to 24; all locations are in St. Paul. The county is running shuttles to get people to the warming spaces.

Since the county opened additional sites on Christmas Eve, there has been an average of 40 people a night at each site. During the recent cold, between Friday and Tuesday, there were an average of 55 people per night at each site, according to Ramsey County Deputy Director of Housing Stability Kimberly Cleminson.

Winter Warming Spaces are seeing a dramatic increase in people who are 24 and younger, Hinderaker said.

“The positive side of this means these youth are seeking options outside of survival means like selling themselves for a night on a couch, or staying with an abusive partner just to be warm for the night,” Hinderaker said. “The same goes for many of our most vulnerable individuals on the street. The warming centers offer choice — where choosing to stay alive does not also have to mean choosing to remain in an unsafe environment.”

Safe Space Shelter, for which service providers give referrals, has been operating at reduced capacity since Friday because of a heating issue — the county has been transporting remaining people to Winter Warming Spaces each night since then, Cleminson said. Maintenance is expected to be completed Thursday.

There are also people who choose to not go to warming centers. That could be because they don’t want to be separated from their romantic partner or pet, Hinderaker said. The HART team makes sure to get to encampments for safety checks, including educating people about fire safety and connecting them with resources for propane if they report they need heat.

Handing out donated items

Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher’s “Live on Patrol” livestreams on Facebook and YouTube have regular watchers self-named “backseaters” and they “constantly send us stuff to be able to pass out,” said Spence, who is known as “The Rev” on “Live on Patrol” (that’s his title because he’s also associate pastor at New Hope Baptist Church in St. Paul).

Spence was just awarded the Local Legend Award on Monday during a Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast for his work in serving the community and youth.

“Backseaters” provide gloves, hats and jackets that community service officers and deputies pass out to those who are homeless.

“They literally were sewing hats,” Spence said of the “backseaters.” “I got a call this morning that a lady is already collecting a whole bunch of socks.”

More than 300 pairs of gloves were donated at the Ramsey County Law Enforcement Center on Saturday night.

As Spence and Robinson — whose nickname is “Starwars” — passed out items Wednesday, a man working downtown told them about a family who recently arrived from Venezuela and who were seated at a table in the skyway. Robinson gave them gloves, and Spence handed out $30 in food gift cards donated by “backseaters,” along with meat sticks.

The beef sticks are made by Big Steer Meats in St. Paul, funded by the nonprofit Hunter’s Harvest.

“My father has been passionate about honoring those that serve in the military,” said Amy Bohaty, whose father, Rich Bohaty, was the founder; she’s a Hunter’s Harvest board member. “To be able to serve homeless veterans and expand his beef stick program with the Ramsey County sheriff’s office to serve those in need makes our family very proud.”

The meat sticks handed out by the sheriff’s office provide people with protein and information — the wrappers have a sticker that says, “Seeking shelter?” and includes phone numbers for Catholic Charities Twin Cities.

Each pack is 6 ounces and contains five meat sticks. They’ve given an estimated 400 packs to the sheriff’s office so far, said Kurt Krummel, Big Steer Meats general manager.

Cold ahead, then warm-up

There are tables set up at the sheriff’s office training annex in the skyway above 345 Cedar St., Press House Apartments in downtown St. Paul, where anyone in need can stop in to get clothes and warm-weather gear, though the office is not regularly staffed when the crew is out and about.

On Tuesday night, a 65-year-old homeless man came into their office to pick up some clothes. “He’s been out there for long time,” said sheriff’s office Sgt. John Scheller. “His feet were in pretty bad shape and he needed assistance taking off his boots, putting new socks and boots on. We got him squared away with that.” And they gave him a referral to Safe Space Shelter.

More cold weather is on the way, but then warmer weather is in the forecast.

After Minnesota saw the warmest December on record, temperatures plunged to minus 8 degrees in the Twin Cities on Sunday and Monday, according to the National Weather Service. There were wind chills as low as 30 below zero on Saturday night into early Sunday at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, said Eric Ahasic, a meteorologist at the NWS in Chanhassen.

Another surge of Arctic air is expected Thursday night into Friday, and Friday night into Saturday morning “is going to be another really cold night” with temperatures ranging from minus 5 to minus 10 in the metro area, Ahasic said.

A warm-up is expected to begin Sunday and next week will be “well-above-normal temperatures” — in the 30s and above freezing, according to Ahasic.

How to get help, how to donate

People can call Ramsey County staff at 651-266-1050 from 9 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. for help finding the nearest warming space. More details can be found at ramseycounty.us/WarmingSpaces.

The Listening House welcomes donations of new or used hats, gloves, hand warmers and coats to help get through the winter. Men’s styles and sizes are preferred. People can schedule to drop off donations at listeninghouse.org/items/#schedule.

People can also drop off new or gently used winter gear for distribution to the homeless at the Ramsey County sheriff’s office Law Enforcement Center, 425 Grove St. in St. Paul, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays.

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