Response includes expanding services, capacity to accommodate people with lack of resources
Peter & Paul Community Services provides for people who are homeless day in and day out. But when subfreezing temperatures swept through the St. Louis region this month, the nonprofit ecumenical agency knew it needed to spring into action to get as many people off the streets as possible.
The agency opened a 40-bed pop-up emergency shelter on Jan. 13 at its headquarters in the Benton Park West neighborhood of south St. Louis, boosting its regular 60-bed shelter in Soulard. Peter & Paul Community Services grew out of an ecumenical effort involving Sts. Peter & Paul and St. Vincent de Paul churches, and its programs today continue to be supported by Catholics and dozens of parishes.
CEO Anthony D’Agostino said he anticipated every single space at the pop-up shelter would be filled as temperatures in St. Louis dipped into the single digits, with a windchill advisory issued through Jan. 16. Temperatures had risen by midweek, but another cold snap was expected again over the weekend.
“I was there this morning and we have a few people coming from hospitals” later on, D’Agostino said on Jan. 15. One of the biggest issues is finding people who are available to staff the shelter. “We need at least two people every single shift, 24/7,” he said. In the first 12 hours, someone experienced an overdose at the shelter, and Narcan had to be administered. Others had frostbite and other weather-related medical issues.
In St. Charles, Kirsten LaCroix with the Street Outreach team at The Care Service, spent a recent morning driving around the area and helping people who are homeless find accommodations during the sub-freezing conditions. Founded out of Sts. Joachim and Ann Parish in St. Charles, The Care Service now operates as an independent nonprofit organization and is the largest social support agency in the tri-county area that includes St. Charles, Lincoln and Warren.
LaCroix stopped by The Salvation Army in St. Charles, looking to drop off a tent and supplies with someone she knew. While she was there, she checked on a group of people standing outside of the building to see if they needed any supplies and whether they had the phone number for the Emergency Weather Response program under the St. Charles, Lincoln and Warren County Continuum of Care. The program is activated when it is predicted to be 20 degrees or below overnight.
Exposure to cold can cause frostbite or hypothermia and can become life threatening. A wind chill of -20 degrees with light winds will cause frostbite in just 30 minutes. Hypothermia, a condition brought on when the body temperature drops to less than 95 degrees, can be deadly.
LaCroix pulled over and welcomed the group to choose some personal care items from the back of her van. Ashley Swent said she was planning to stay on a family member’s couch during the cold temperatures. She’s had contact with The Care Service for the past several months and hopes to get a place of her own soon.
“Right now we’re out here to get some of my stuff,” she said. “I’m trying to get as much as I can from my tent, which could have been ravaged by animals. I’ve been gone for two days. We’ll see. Hopefully I can stay long enough for us to save enough money to get a place.”
In St. Louis, St. Francis Xavier “College” Parish is among a group of churches serving as overnight shelters as part of the St. Louis Winter Outreach. Two nights a week, when the temperature falls to 20 degrees or below or 25 degrees or below with precipitation, the churches are open to those seeking comfort.
The College Church’s Winter Inn is open on Wednesday and Thursday nights, and typically average about 14-15 guests, said parishioner volunteer Anne Osdieck. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the Winter Inn has set up the ballroom with poles and shower curtains to divide cots into private sleeping areas. About two dozen volunteers help with everything from setting up to bringing food, serving as greeters, staying overnight with guests and cleaning up the following day.
St. Patrick Center, a ministry of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, has extended some of its services in hours of operation and capacity, said Brianne Gerzevske, senior director of philanthropy.
McMurphy’s Warming Center Downtown has been in operation on weekdays since December. In response to the colder temps, the center’s capacity was expanded to 30 people and was open for extended hours on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. Other programs, including Grace House and the Women’s Night Program, also expanded their capacities.
“Our Mobile Outreach is out there with blankets and winter items throughout the city inviting people to come and see how we can meet needs in a greater way,” Gerzevske. “It’s beyond a blanket and cup of coffee, and we will continue those services as usual.”
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul generally sees a spike in calls when there is a threat of bad weather — hot or cold. Conferences help with food, housing assistance and utilities — mostly gas and electric, but will help with other utilities on occasion, said Julie Komanetsky, director of Vincentian Services with the Archdiocesan Council of St. Louis.
“Every conference within our archdiocese determines how it can best serve those in need, and I’ve found that Vincentians are very caring and very resourceful when it comes to meeting the needs of their neighbors,” Komanetsky said. “I’ve heard of conferences providing blankets, sleeping bags, hats, gloves, warm socks and hand warmers to the unhoused during the winter. And I’ve heard of conferences providing gift cards to fast food restaurants so the unhoused can warm up and have a warm drink or meal in a warm place.”
The society’s founder, Blessed Frederic Ozanam, once said that “knowledge of social well being and reform is to be learned … by climbing the poor man’s garret, sitting by his bedside and feeling the same cold that pierces him,” Komanetsky said. “This is what happens when Vincentians visit their neighbors in the neighbors’ homes and share in their experience.”
