Augusta offers warming shelters as temps drop below freezing

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Augusta is offering day and night warming shelters to provide residents with a safe and warm environment as temperatures will get below freezing on Friday.

With temperatures expected to drop into the low 20s on Friday, the city is stepping up to help those stay warm.

Friday morning will be below freezing in the upper 20s and low 30s. The highs will be in the upper 50s wind will be out of the northeast between 5-10 mph.

Augusta will have daytime centers, however, free bus service is not provided to those sites. The locations include:

• Carrie J. Mays Center: 1014 11th Ave., Augusta, 706-821-2827, 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Bernie Ward Center: 1941 Lumpkin Road, Augusta, 706-790-0588, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• Blythe Center: 3129 Highway 88, Blythe, 706-592-4988, 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Henry H. Brigham Center: 2463 Golden Camp Road, 706-771-2654, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• May Park: 622 Fourth St., 706-724-0504, 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• McBean Center: 1155 Hephzibah-McBean Road, 706-560-2628, 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Sand Hills Center: 2540 Wheeler Road, 706-842-1912, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• W.T. Johnson Center: 1606 Hunter St., 706-821-2866, 9 a.m. to noon
• Warren Road Center: 300 Warren Road, 706-860-2833, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Diamond Lakes Regional Park, 4335 Windsor Spring Road, 706-826-1370, 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The city will offer free bus rides to overnight warming centers.

Augusta Transit pick-up locations:

• Broad Street Transfer Facility, 1546 Broad St.
• May Park Community Center, 622 Fourth St.

Drop-off locations:

• Augusta Rescue Mission, 526 Walker St. (Route 3 Gold Line/East Augusta)
• Garden City Rescue Mission, 828 Fenwick St. (Route 6 Brown Line/Gordon Highway)
• Salvation Army Center of Hope, 1384 Greene St. (Route 3 Gold Line/East Augusta)

The bus service will run continuously until 8 p.m. People unable to get to the pickup locations and in need of a ride should call 706-821-1719 before 8 p.m.

The city has not opened additional night shelters unless the partner shelters reach full capacity. If this occurs, the partners will notify officials before taking further action.

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Those without a place to call home are needing somewhere to stay warm.

“No one wakes up and says ‘I’m going to be homeless today,’” said Janelys Villalta, Salvation Army marketing and public relations manager.

“We care about them,” said Patrick Feitsel, Garden City Rescue Mission executive director. “We want to see their lives change around or where they don’t have to do this anymore.”

Feitsel says it really is a matter of life or death.

During times like these, they also open their doors during the day.

“Getting enough money for rent, for an apartment is not as easy as it used to be,” said Feitsel. “So people are finding themselves on the streets, where they would have never two years ago thought they might have been in this situation and the storm has displaced people on top of it”

To stay at one of these shelters you have to have clearance and ID.

People in need of a background check to stay at an overnight shelter can go to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office before 5 p.m. to get documentation from the records bureau. If it’s after 5 or if they’re unable to go to the records bureau, they can call 706-821-1080 and a deputy will come to them.

During this time of year, these shelters encourage you to donate items like winter clothing and blankets to help keep people warm.

Next week, the temperatures will rise again to the mid-60s.

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