SALT LAKE CITY — It’s an early morning for those in Utah's Code Blue warming centers.
Nationwide, several feet of snow have been dumped over the weekend, and while Utah has been spared from most of the snow, the temperature is below freezing to start the week. For those struggling with homelessness, Unsheltered Utah provides a warm place for them to sleep.
Watch: Warm meals, movies, and shelter: Inside Utah's Code Blue movie nights
“When our guests are sleeping with us, we call it sunrise, so we slowly turn up the lights around 5:00 a.m.,” Damon Tolbot, the operations director for Unsheltered Utah, said.
From there, Tolbot says it is coffee time. The team has different breakfasts available, like cereal and a bus pass, for each guest who stayed overnight.
“Then our volunteers will start breaking down all the cots,” he said.
Watch: How Code Blue aims to keep all Utahns safe during bitter cold weather
It’s business as usual for the centers, both of which are hosted in local churches — St. Mark’s Cathedral and First United Methodist Church. But the Code Blue heating centers don’t happen every night. Tolbot said they are able to open when the temperature is 18 degrees or less for 2 hours in 24 hours, per the state’s rules.
“We’d like to see them change that temperature, just even a few degrees would be very helpful,” Tolbot said. “It would allow us to open a little more often.”
According to Unsheltered Utah, it costs about $44 per guest per night, and both locations can serve about 70 people each night. The team has around $225,000 in funding from the state for the warming centers.
When guests arrive at 8:00 p.m., they receive dinner and a warm cot. Something simple that Tolbot says can make a world of difference. “It’s where our guests say they’ve gotten some of the best sleep,” Tolbot said. “They check in their items so they don’t sleep with one eye open that someone is going to steal their things during the night.”
Volunteers help throughout the night in two-hour shifts, but according to Tolbot, the centers are always looking for more help.
“We’re always looking for more volunteers, especially in the late night or early morning hours to help clean things and help get people out in the morning,” Tolbot said. “We’re also looking for more partners to help expand our operations around the county.”
More information on volunteers can be found here.
