DENVER — As the Arctic blast sweeps throughout the state, shelters in the metro area are ready to provide support and services to ensure people in need stay out of the dangerously cold temperatures.
Denver's Department of Housing Stability (HOST) partners with city agencies to offer "front door" referral centers, which have longer hours and walk-up access and help people understand the shelter options available to them. The Denver Rescue Mission Lawrence Street Community Center is a front-door location for individual men.
"This is the front door, and so we're bringing people in, assessing where they need to be, and then we have buses coming to take them there, and then individuals are staying at this location and walking over," Tracy Brooks, Chief Program Officer at Denver Rescue Mission, said.
The need to get people indoors is a top priority, which is why the Denver Rescue Mission works with its partnerships and the city to ensure those in need are aware of the available services.
"We want people indoors. We want them safe so the outreach workers know they can bring individuals here. We want to get them inside. DPD knows they can bring people here, and then we want to get them inside, so we're working hard to coordinate that effort and get that message out," Brooks said.
Cory Branch, the program manager for the street outreach team with HOST, says they go out into the community to connect with people experiencing homelessness or people who have housing instability. They understand they can get them into a shelter or provide them with the supplies to stay warm.
"Every team, we have two people to a vehicle, and we have vans and different ways to transport people," Branch said. "We also have a wheelchair-accessible van so that we can make sure that people who have mobility challenges also have access to these shelters."
While the hope is to get as many people as possible indoors, those who do not wish to go into a shelter are provided with items like hats, gloves, hand warmers, and emergency mylar blankets. Branch explained that the outreach teams are seeing a really positive response so far.
"Compared to yesterday, I think we're seeing a lot fewer people out on the streets lately just because they've been able to access some of those warming centers or those shelters, and so we want to make sure that we're able to connect with the rest of the people that are still out there that still need some help," Branch said.
As many people seek the services offered at the Denver Rescue Mission on this extremely frigid weekend, Brooks shared the need for donations of winter weather gear, food, and money.
"It impacts our resources, so on a weekend like this, our resources are tapped," Brooks said. "We're bringing in more staff for this weekend. We're doing laundry for this weekend. We are paying for more electricity and more food. We're helping supply food to some overflow shelters, and all those resources create a great need."
If you would like to help out the Denver Rescue Mission, details on the various ways to support them can be found online.
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