When the temperature dropped in the Golden Triangle this week, places to warm up opened in both Lowndes and Oktibbeha County. But while one has been serving “all ends of the spectrum,” the other has primarily served the homeless.
At the Golden Triangle Homeless Coalition’s warming station at 1501 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Columbus, which opened on Friday, coalition president Susan Garton told The Dispatch Wednesday that about three to 10 visitors have been served daily. Total, Garton estimated the station has served about 30. Only two, she said, have been repeat visitors.
At the Oktibbeha County Warming Center at First Baptist Church’s warehouse, which opened Sunday as a temporary overnight shelter, Emergency Management Agency Director Kristen Campanella said the number of visitors has grown from one to eight visitors staying overnight. Campanella said this has mostly included repeat visitors.
Garton said the Columbus warming station, which the coalition switched from an overnight shelter model earlier this month, is intended for everyone who needs it. The station has served all kinds of visitors, including a family whose electrical outlets started sparking on Sunday night, she said.
“This is not just for the homeless,” Garton said. “It’s for people who may not have electricity. It’s for people who maybe need space heaters. … Some of them are legitimately homeless and have just been kicked out of the house the day of.”
Campanella said the Oktibbeha center has been open to everyone but homeless people primarily use it. Just a few, she said, simply did not have heat in their homes.
Pivoting in Columbus
Garton said GTRHC was originally using an overnight shelter model earlier this month, before it switched to the warming station model. The key difference is in the hours each model serves.
While overnight shelters remain open for 24 hours a day, the GTRHC warming station opens between 5 and 10 p.m. each day.
Only three to six people slept there overnight before, but it required more volunteer shifts, hourly wellness checks from Columbus Police Department and other resources.
“We just didn’t have the numbers,” Garton said.
Since the change, Garton said, the warming station has focused on giving out hot meals, warm clothes and space heaters, and housing assessments to those in need. The assessments, Garton said, initially helped to point the unhoused to a shelter in Tupelo or to the temporary warming center in Starkville, where they could stay overnight.
Once ice started making the roads dangerous, volunteers pivoted, instead giving visitors who needed housing rides to nearby relatives or hotels, if a room was needed for the night. This allows GTRHC to provide places for people to “lay their heads,” Garton said, without having to maintain an overnight shelter.
“If they’re getting assistance via hotel, who cares what method they go through?” Garton said. “As long as they’re off the streets and they’re warm. We just wanted to make sure that everybody was safe and that they weren’t going to be out in the cold that could potentially cause some health issues.”
Garton said the Lowndes warming station is intended to be open for as the temperature remains below 35 degrees. Updates are available on social media, Garton said, and the coalition’s hotline, (662) 549-2643, is open 24 hours a day for as long as the weather is dangerous.
Starkville’s center
The warming center in Starkville includes a sleeping room, recreation room, kitchen, showers and restrooms.
The Red Cross provided the center’s cots and blankets, while Starkville Strong provided snacks and staffing. The center has also received donations of blankets, jackets, gloves, hats, snacks and more from other sources, Campanella said.
“Without all that, we wouldn’t have been able to pull it off,” Campanella said.
Campanella said the overnight center will remain open through 8 a.m. Monday. Updates are available on the Oktibbeha County Emergency Management Agency/E911 Facebook Page.
“We are monitoring the expected rain and cool (temperatures) that are expected for (Thursday) and may consider extending the hours depending on if we have the resources available to do so,” Campanella wrote in a text to The Dispatch on Wednesday. “If not, we may look at transporting them to open warming centers nearby if they desire to do so.”
While the center does include a lot of resources, Campanella said, pets are not allowed at the center. However, the Oktibbeha County Humane Society has offered to temporarily board pets for those at the shelter. Limited space is available. To check for available space, call (662) 338-9093.
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 30 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
