PROVO, Utah — For the first time in Utah County history, people experiencing homelessness will have a place to sleep on the coldest nights of winter.
“I think it's really an important piece of our community to make sure that people have a place to be at night when it's really cold,” said Kena Mathews, the housing director for Community Action Services and Food Bank. “We saw a lot more homeless, especially in cars, which kind of shows that people are working, just that they can't afford housing.”
Utah lawmakers passed a bill in the last legislative session requiring larger counties to keep people warm when temperatures drop below freezing.
“This year, we have to do Code Blue response, which just says that when the temperature goes below 15 or below, then shelter has to be made available by the County,” said Mathews. “And then next year, it has to be made available regardless of weather from October to April.”
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Multiple churches in Provo, Orem and Springville are participating; at least one warming center will open their doors from 9 p.m. to 8 a.m.
“This isn't just going to be somewhere where they go and hang out for the evening,” Mathews said. “We're hopefully to be able to provide resources and things like that to set some of these people on a good trajectory to towards self-sufficiency, getting off the street.”
Community Action Services is recruiting volunteers for 3-hour shifts. They are also hoping to collect hundreds of donated blankets so they can open the warming centers in December.
“It's really just to keep people alive and keep will keep people warm. We've had several people over the years passed away due to homelessness, and so that's what we're trying to prevent, is people from dying in the cold.”
Community Action Services is also collecting donations for its food bank, which is running extremely low. If you have any leftover cans or packaged food from Thanksgiving, you can take them to their pantry at 815 S. Freedom Boulevard in Provo.
