As the wind chill temperature in Hopkinsville plunged to about 13 degrees Thursday evening, the city’s only cold-weather shelter prepared to open at the Salvation Army.
Sleeping cots with pillows and blankets were available in the soup kitchen dining room for anyone who needed a warm place to spend the night as an ice storm was cutting across Western Kentucky.
Now in its fourth year, the shelter serves an increasingly visible group of homeless people who spend much of their time in downtown Hopkinsville.
“Our homeless population has been growing,” said Alissa Barton, the social services director for the Salvation Army that operates out of several buildings on Seventh Street just a block from the heart of the downtown business district.
Barton has worked for the local agency for 21 years. She said she doesn’t recall a time when so many homeless people were looking for a place to sleep.
The nonprofit’s Extreme Weather Event shelter, better known as EWE, is open from 7 p.m. until 7 a.m. on nights the forecast indicates a low temperature of 20 or below — or a wind chill of 20.
Often it is the last place in Hopkinsville for a person to get out of the elements when the Salvation Army’s main shelter has reached its capacity. That facility — in a separate building next door to the administrative offices and soup kitchen — has 30 beds, and most nights it is full.
“As soon as a bed opens up, it’s taken within a day or two,” said Barton.
Recently, eight or so people have been taking a cot at the EWE shelter when it is open.
The Salvation Army relies on government funding and donations to run EWE, which is $200 a night to cover expenses for supplies and one employee who acts as a monitor.
This year the city of Hopkinsville agreed to fund 15 EWE shelter nights. January was especially cold — and by the end of the month, all of the city money had been spent, said Barton. Overnight temperatures will be in the teens or lower at least through Monday.
Now the Salvation Army is asking churches, local groups and individuals to contribute money to keep the EWE going through cold nights that will occur during the next month or so. Barton posted a video on Facebook last week with a request for donations.
Contributions can be mailed to the Salvation Army, P.O. Box 427, Hopkinsville, KY 42241, or taken to the main office on Seventh Street between Clay and Liberty streets.
An added benefit of the shelter, said Barton, is that it allows the Salvation Army to develop a relationship with people who could also benefit from other services.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
