LOGAN, Utah — With cold temperatures overnight, warming centers are where people who are experiencing homelessness can go. They rely on volunteers, and two of them specifically are asking for the public’s help to stay open and cater to those in need.
Every night in the winter, from 7 p.m. to 8 a.m., the doors of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Logan are open to provide people experiencing homelessness a warm place to sleep. They can also get food, clothes, laundry services, resources and hygiene supplies.
"I want them to know that there are people who care about them enough to know their name, and enough to care about where they're at,” said Stephanie Allred, who has been volunteering at the William A. Burnard (WAB) Warming Center since it opened four winters ago, looking for a way to serve and give back to her community. “Everyone deserves a warm place to sleep at night."
"Over the past three years, we've been able to help over 400 people, with 70 percent of them being from the Bear River area,” said Megan Leatham, a case manager at WAB Warming Center. “All of our current volunteers, we couldn't run without. They are truly the glue that holds this whole organization together."
The center needs more than 50 volunteers a week to function. A few people who stay overnight to monitor are paid positions.
"The overnight shift, the first two years we were open, it was just volunteers coming in overnight," Leatham said. "But we quickly learned that that is a really hard shift to get covered — people get burned out very easily and it’s a lot to ask people to stay here all night."
They have enough volunteers now, but it’s still less than last year, and with more people needing services. They are also reaching capacity at the room they use now, and are looking at expanding to a room upstairs, but that means hiring more staff and volunteers. So they are looking for more help, sign-ups and funds. You can learn more and help support at wabwarmingcenter.org.
"The demand is so overwhelming,” explained Allred. “And this is the first time that I’ve honestly been concerned that I may have to turn somebody away on a dangerously cold night."
Inspired by this model in Cache County, volunteers in the Uintah Basin are opening their own warming center for people in Roosevelt, Vernal and Duchesne this week. But they need help, too.
"In the Uintah Basin, homelessness looks different than it does in other parts of the state,” explained Lindsey Garlick, a co-founder of the Heart of the Basin Warming Center. "You don't have a lot of people sitting on the streets and panhandling. You have people couch surfing and bunking up with friends and neighbors, living in trailers that are probably uninhabitable."
She works as a victim services advocate with the Duchesne County Sheriff’s Office and said she sees a need for places like these — especially in the winter.
They partnered with the Kingsbury Community United Church of Christ in Vernal and can have about 15 people overnight, but they need volunteers — especially in the overnight hours. They don’t have any paid positions yet, and the center can't be open without them.
"We don't have enough volunteers today signed up,” Garlick said on Monday. “We keep asking the public. As of today, we got enough volunteers to be open for all shifts during the first week.”
The ribbon cutting is on Friday. They need help staffing the second week and beyond. You can learn more and help the center at heartofthebasin.org.
Those who run these lifesaving resources hope more people can step up to help.
"It would be difficult to find a more meaningful, hands-on, volunteering, life-changing experience,” Allred said.
