Charlie Adams went to sleep in his wheelchair beneath a building overhang before snow began piling up Wednesday, and by the time he awoke, the snow was deep enough to block his chair from rolling.
“I was stuck, trapped,” he said hours later, as he sat in a downtown McDonald’s clutching a cup of coffee.
Someone eventually called 911, and emergency workers pushed him free.
Throughout the metro area, the homeless sought shelter as a spring blizzard dumped heavy, wet snow.
Those running shelters said that though the shelters will be crowded, no one will be turned away.
“We are seeing a lot more demand to be warm tonight,” said Jordan Kellerman, spokeswoman for the Volunteers of America, which owns a family motel on West Colfax.
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The Denver Department of Human Services provides vouchers to the homeless that pay for rooms at the hotel.
Other, privately owned hotels also provide space through the DHS program.
The city also operates an emergency overflow shelter system.
Volunteers of America works with the Denver Rescue Mission, Salvation Army and Samaritan House to make sure that anyone who needs it can get shelter in bad weather, she said.
“We are trying to get as many people to shelter as possible today,” said Clayton Gonzales, assistant director of programs for Urban Peak, which provides shelter and other services to young people 15 through 20-years-old.
“A lot of it is trying to help people navigate the shelter system, so we are running around trying to help people.”
At 1:45 p.m., the St. Francis Center, a day shelter on Curtis Street was crowded with as many as 400 people, said Tom Luehrs, the executive director.
“It is standing-room-only right now. People will be here until 6 p.m., when they can go to the overnight shelters so they will have a place they can be inside for 24 hours,” Luehrs said.
St. Francis, the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless and Urban Peak, which provides shelter and other services to youth, have outreach workers who prowl the streets to connect the homeless with services.
“They are saying that all the people are coming indoors,” Luehrs said.
The Delores Project, which provides overnight shelter for unaccompanied women and transgender individuals, was staying open on Wednesday.
“Nobody was going to be able to get around easily,” said Terrell Curtis, Delores Project executive director. “Typically we would have been closed, but many of our people are in fragile health,” she said.
“We will do our best to get people inside,” Kellerman said. “I don’t know if there are enough beds, but we won’t turn anyone away tonight.”
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671, tmcghee@denverpost.com or @dpmcghee
