CARBONDALE, Ill. — With the frigid temperatures, local efforts ensure those without access to heat have a warm and safe place to lay their heads. On Wednesday night, the Carbondale Warming Center opened its overflow space, with more than 30 extra beds.
Carmalita and two other employees talking in the front office at the Carbondale Warming Center.
The Washington Street Warming Center in Paducah still needs at least 20 more volunteers for cooking positions and staying overnight, and people to take the same night shift weekly.
In Carbondale, they’re set for now on volunteers, but they need paper plates, styrofoam, and napkins for the meals they provide. Executive director Carmalita Cahill said having a warm place to sleep is a human right — and it’s a problem only collaboration can solve.
“Nobody’s looking outside going, ‘I want to camp out tonight.’ Nobody has that thought,” Cahill said.
At the Carbondale Warming Center, overflow beds were ready for guests Wednesday night as the temperature was predicted to drop into the teens and 20s over the next few days.
Extra beds set up in the upstairs section of the Carbondale Warming Center.
“When they come in for our upstairs program overnight, they have a meal, they have a place to sleep. It opens at 6 p.m. and closes at 8 a.m. upstairs,” Cahill said.
Cahill also mentioned this weekend is a perfect opportunity to give back untraditionally: the 19th Annual Southern Illinois Alternative Gift Fair at the Carbondale Civic Center.
“So we’ve made some very nice star ornaments out of those, even some wreaths. So we’re excited to use the stuff that we have extra of that we don’t really use to be able to use that to raise money. And there’ll be multiple agencies there,” Cahill said.
The Carbondale Warming Center has already seen a bump in the number of people who need their services. Now, with the Safer Kentucky Act in the neighboring state in effect banning sleeping or camping in public spaces, reporters asked if staff are concerned about an even greater need to come.
“The really scary thing about it for the people that desperately need someplace to stay, and then somebody buses them up here, is that all of their appointments, doctors, case management, school, and everything else are down there, and we don’t have a way to get you back down there for it,” Cahill said.
Carmalita Cahill working in the front office at the Carbondale Warming Center.
The overflow section of the Carbondale Warming Center can host up to 39 people. Right now, they average about four people a night. That’s expected to change because Cahill said it’s the beginning of the month and people still might have some income for housing.
The warming center’s overflow section opened for the first time this season on Monday. It’s expected to close again this weekend — possibly by Sunday morning until the temperatures drop below 36 degrees again.
To donate to the Carbondale Warming Center, click here.
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