January 2023 Newsletter

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Transformed Lives

We give a warm welcome and encouragement to those getting out of the cold and entering our environment of safety and freedom from drug and alcohol influence. There is a warmth of compassion and needed accountability. Heated dayrooms, dining rooms, dormitories, and private rooms satisfy the need for physical warmth. We have empty beds for men, women, and children. Campers do not stay out in the cold for a lack of shelter beds, meals, clothing, or social service help. Cold camping is because of addictions. Campers need the love and dignity of the Mission to get needed help, not the toxic charity of so called survival gear to remain in hopeless campsites.

Jason is pictured above wearing a new, warm coat, given to him so he can work in our unheated warehouse. He has camped out in the wintertime before, but now says its too cold and wet outside. He is a hard, diligent worker that is actively seeking employment. All over the community, men and women from the Mission are working outdoors or commuting to work and going to social service locations. Children from here are traveling to school. They need winter coats as they actively go about the tasks of gaining independent living.

We have empty beds for men, women, and children. No need to camp out.

We have seen the effects on those who did not heed the warning. Campers have limped into the Mission with frostbitten toes. It does not even take freezing temperatures to cause damage. If a person is wet and there is enough windchill, body tissues will be injured. There is also the danger of hypothermia, pneumonia, influenza, even freezing to death. Often homeless campers increase their usage of drugs and alcohol to overcome cold weather. But its a delusion. Alcohol gives a false sense of warmth in the body, because it dilates blood vessels, increasing blood flow to the limbs. That process actually increases heat loss, lowering core body temperature. A person can feel that sense of warmth, then not dress well enough. Alcoholics can pass out in frigid water or snow. And alcohol suppresses appetite, depleting nutrition that generates energy for warmth.

Winter Weather Policy: 36 degrees or less, including windchill.

Hope is not lost. Meeting needs, with a clear path to success, is our purpose. We have a winter weather policy, that is more inclusive of people living outdoors. When the forecast is for 36 degrees or less, including windchill, there is greater leniency on behaviors for the sake of safety. Still, no one’s condition can be a discouragement to another’s sobriety. This is a safe, healthy environment to promote the well-being of everyone here. We provide relief, day and night, from the cold. This is a rescue center with counseling and programs for successful living. We are a warm place in a cold world.