Homeless shelters prepare to serve influx of guests ahead of severe winter weather

INDIANAPOLIS — Whereas many might selected to remain residence and out of the extreme chilly this week, some members of the Indy group are left with nowhere to go.

This week, temperatures are anticipated to drop to the one digits, with wind chills as little as -25 levels.

MORE: WRTV Storm Crew forecast

“That is the worst a part of the season. Even should you try to raised your self or make a method out of no method, the temperature is, for lack of a greater phrase, it’s scary,” Andre Phinisee mentioned.

Phinisee has been experiencing homelessness on and off for 4 years.

He spends a lot of his time on the Wheeler Mission Shelter for Males and he’s on the point of hunker down forward of Thursday.

“This place is my refuge,” he mentioned.

It’s an identical story for Kody Pritchard.

“They might freeze to loss of life. It might get that chilly out. It’s unhappy; everyone deserves to have a heat place to go,” Pritchard mentioned.

Wheeler Mission estimates there are 1,567 folks experiencing homelessness in Marion County — 273 of that are kids.

The shelter estimates it serves 300 males each day. These quantity rise within the winter months.

“What we wanna do is ensure that we’re ready, that we now have areas [and] ensure that we now have the capability and employees out there to deal with any variety of further those that we get to return in throughout this time,” Director William Bumphus mentioned.

Bumphus says employees will probably be out on a nightly foundation this week to tell these in want.

“We do have a number of teams that exit. We name them Outreach Groups, who exit to a few of these camps. They exit to a few of these areas the place we discover there’s a number of people experiencing homelessness. They provide them that info and allow them to know ‘hey, listed below are your choices,’” he mentioned.

Employees are stocking up on mats, sheets, blankets and meals to arrange for the tip of the week.

Probably the most wanted gadgets on the shelter are males’s underwear in all sizes, coats and different winter climate clothes gadgets.

“Whether or not that’s giving monetarily, whether or not that’s giving hygiene, we now have a wants record proper on that web site … you’ll be able to go down that record and determine what it’s you want to assist present for the friends that we see,” he mentioned.

If you wish to assist and have gadgets to donate, you’ll be able to drop them off at their location at 520 E Market Avenue.

A hyperlink to their web site will be discovered right here.

Indy Parks can be providing a number of warming facilities.