Denver’s shelters will be jammed tonight as the city’s homeless try to get out of the bone-chilling cold.
Denver Rescue Mission on Lawrence Street and Park Avenue West, which normally provides shelter only at night, opened at 10 a.m. this morning.
An Arctic cold front brought frigid cold today and by 5 p.m. Denver’s temperature was 11 degrees. It is expected to plunge below zero overnight, according to the National Weather Service.
“They have been coming in and getting out of the cold,” said Greta Walker, Denver Rescue spokeswoman.
One hundred additional cots have been set up at the shelter, which provides a bed for 200 in more clement weather. “If people come in the middle of the night our goal is to keep people alive so we will let them come inside even if all the cots are taken.”
At the Salvation Army’s Crossroads shelter, on 29th Street, there is room for another 350 people, said Maj. Neal Hogan, Salvation Army director of social services.
The Salvation Army also has a search and rescue crew prowling the streets warning the homeless to get inside, and transporting some of them to shelter, Hogan said.
“For those that refuse that service we have a winter kit. It has gloves and a space blanket, a protein bar and some other things.”
Denver police are also warning the homeless that tonight’s cold can kill, said police spokesman Sonny Jackson. “We try to get folks to shelter before it gets dark out and too cold.”
A multipurpose room at Samaritan House, a shelter run by Catholic Charities, becomes an overflow room during bad weather. Bedding is available in that room for about 97 people, said Randy Weinert, a spokesman for Catholic Charities.
Samaritan House should be at capacity with about 383 people spending the night, he added.
“Generally on nights like this we just pack them in as tight as we can.”
Tom McGhee: (303)954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
