The City of Albuquerque is trying to shelter the homeless population from the cold weather by opening a temporary warming center in the southeast part of town.
Mesa Verde Community Center is only open during the day and provides blankets, clothes and a hot shower to those in need.
“We have been anticipating the need for warming centers for quite a while,” Katie Simon, Family and Community Services Public Affairs specialist, told KOB 4 this week. “We know when temps drop, and the wind chill and moisture is high, it is extremely dangerous for people to be out on the street for long periods of time, and our priority is keeping people safe.”
A nonprofit called “Street Safe New Mexico” is helping spread the word about the warming center, which should not be confused with a homeless shelter. Volunteers can give rides to the community center for those who need them.
“Driving around, the first thing we would say is ‘Hey, there is a warming station,’ and people would say ‘What?’” Christine Barber, executive director of Street Safe New Mexico, told KOB 4. “So, we had to explain what a warming station was to get over that hurdle. Once we explain that they could stay inside and no one was going to make them leave - when they are freezing and shivering, and you can see their hands are turning into that wax color right before frostbite – everyone was super excited.”
On Monday and Tuesday, the City said the warming center at Mesa Verde served more than 20 people from 7 a.m. to 8 pm. and was also open Wednesday morning because of the cold weather. Those hours could expand.
“Just make them a lot more accessible to different groups,” Barber said. “Right now this is a warming station in the International District, that’s fantastic, that’s amazing, but that’s not downtown, that’s not up on Tramway, that’s not where everyone else is as well.”
The City noted that there could be more warming centers created throughout the winter.
“We are going to continue to keep an eye on the weather conditions all winter,” Simon said. “We anticipate needing to activate warming centers at any point when the conditions necessitate it. We have a number of sites identified and an active list of volunteers who are ready to jump into action whenever we need them.”
Barber also commented that spaces like this literally save lives.
“In Albuquerque, in that last year, about 15 people died of exposure, 10 times that had frostbite, gangrene, black fingers, black toes, loss of a limb,” she said. “With these shelters, we will start to see that number come down and start to see people making use of this, and if they’d stay open overnight that would mean everything.”
