Volunteers Needed for Crisis Weather Shelter
Helping to provide emergency shelter and supporting those need it most
Cole Flippen is a student at Drury University who is raising awareness of the Crisis Weather Shelter in Springfield, Missouri. These shelters are only open from Nov. 1 through Mar. 31 and when the weather is below 32°F (0°C) between 10 a.m. and 4 a.m.
The shelters are divided by gender and age; there are options for the youth and teenagers too. The Sacred Heart Catholic Church takes in men over the age of 50. They pick them up from a couple of places, one of which is the veteran center down the road from Drury.
The cold weather shelters are primarily to house the homeless population or the people in need, but they can also offer meals.
Emergency shelters are opened during times of extreme cold weather spikes to be able to get more people off the street and someplace warm. Flippen said that last January during an intense cold spike, some of the emergency shelters had to close because they ran out of resources like volunteers to stay open. It was the first time that the shelters had to turn people away.
The Community Partnership of the Ozarks oversees all of the cold weather shelters, their employees, and volunteers The organization is striving to have more volunteers for the cold weather crisis shelters, and Flippen is reaching out to those at Drury to sign up and help a great cause with the opportunity to help our community.
The hours of volunteering can depend entirely on the volunteer and what works best for them. Some do work the 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift, but that does not mean all volunteers must work those hours. Any little bit helps, even if it is just a few hours of your time.
Flippen emphasizes that the organization just needs people to watch over everyone and can even bring school work or a book to pass the time.
If you are interested in volunteering, please click this link at the top! It provides more information about the Crisis Weather Shelters, a signup sheet, where the shelters are located, and much more!