Westmoreland County leaders work ahead to keep people experiencing homelessness warm this winter
In Westmoreland County on Thursday, it was just over 80 degrees. But soon the weather is going to turn, and it is going to be cold outside again.
And for people experiencing homelessness, they are going to need shelters and warming centers to stay warm. The Union Mission shelter in Latrobe is one of two homeless shelters in the county, and it operates near capacity almost every day.
Dan Carney, the executive director of Union Mission, says that outside of major population centers like Pittsburgh, there are still plenty of people who are homeless. And he says while it is an ongoing battle to make sure people have a roof over their head in every season, in the winter, warming shelters become a matter of life and death.
"In the wintertime, when we start to see freezing temperatures, we know how quickly somebody could perish," Carney said. "It becomes imperative that our shelters are able to absorb that capacity and that there is a plan in place for us to make sure that those folks don't have to stay out and endure that cold weather."
Rob Hamilton, the director of Human Services for Westmoreland County, says the plan is to bolster the number of warming centers in the county. They are asking individuals, businesses and organizations that may have extra space to donate it to their cause.
"No one chooses to be homeless," Hamilton said. "Things happen. If you are an individual right now watching this, all you have to do is call 211 and say, 'I have a space and I am willing to help create a warm environment for someone to seek safety.'"
Hamilton says there is no exact number for the homeless population in the county, but he says hundreds call 211 in Westmoreland each month for help finding housing, and both cooling centers in the summer and warming centers in the winter.
Above all, Hamilton says that nobody should be left out in the cold.
"I am not going to sit here with this grandiose vision of ending homelessness," Hamilton said. "That would be great. That is always the vision, that is always the goal. Our goal here in Westmoreland County is to be a little bit better and to serve a little bit more every single year and that is what we are trying to accomplish."
If you are in Westmoreland County and you're experiencing homelessness, or you're an organization that wants to give over a building for a warming center, call 211.
