MIDVALE -- The emergency winter shelter in Midvale, located at 529 W. 7300 South, opens its doors when the first sign of cold weather hits. With this week’s weather changing, officials expect the facility to be busy.
“Here it`s just families, everybody is worried about their kids,” said Elizabeth Bottoms, who is homeless. “When I stayed here before, I liked it a lot better. I’m excited to come back here today.”
Bottoms, a single mother of triplets, said she feels safer at the Midvale shelter than at the downtown shelter, the Road Home. She hopes this year she can take advantage of the help Midvale shelter offers families.
“They help you a lot here, they help you get into a place -- pay your first month’s rent,” she said.
Associate Executive Director for the Road Home, Michelle Flynn, said most of the families at the Midvale location are homeless for the first time. The shelter has a housing team that works to help them get back on their feet and into homes of their own.
“This would be sort of a last resort that people would come to but they know they can get assistance to get back into housing,” Flynn said.
Bottoms said her goal is to get a job, put her kids in school and get herself back on her feet.
Donations are needed at the Midvale shelter. Officials are asking for coats of all sizes, sheets, socks and infant items. They can be dropped off at the shelter.
