The snow is flying, and the temperature is falling quickly as arctic air descends upon Licking County again – and it’s going to remain dangerously cold through this week.
As temperatures drop into the low teens each night all week, and as low as 7 degrees on Monday night, there will be a great need for volunteers to open and sustain Licking County’s only warming shelter, at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 592 W. Main St. in Newark. The Warming Center Task Force sent out an urgent plea Sunday morning for volunteers.
During the last cold snap, when temperatures fell to single digits, the shelter cared for more than 60 people per day on the coldest days.
The shelter is especially in need of overnight volunteers, according to the Rev. Deb Dingus, pastor at Holy Trinity and a member of the task force, who wrote a memo to fellow pastors in Licking County seeking help.
“We need volunteers to sign up for the overnight and morning shifts,” Dingus wrote, asking fellow pastors to ask for volunteers while making Sunday morning announcements. “We will not be comfortable activating unless the shifts are covered with adequate volunteers.”
Warming Center volunteer coordinator Luellen Deeds wrote in a Facebook post that the task force is “struggling to fill the 12:30 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. shifts.”
With proper staffing, the shelter will be open from Monday evening, Feb. 17, through the morning of Friday, Feb. 21.
Anyone who can volunteer should send an email to Deeds at LDeeds@unitedwaylc.org.
According to task force member Jeff Gill, the shifts are as follows: 4 p.m.-8:30 p.m. (intake), 4 p.m.-8:30 p.m. (food and meal preparation), 8:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. (intake), 12:30 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. (overnight), and 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. (closing and clean-up). Volunteers also will be needed at 9:30 a.m. on Friday to help with laundry.