Community building will serve as emergency warming shelter

Adam Rollins, Staff Writer
Posted 1/2/23

Truesdale’s MaryLou Community Building will serve as an emergency overnight warming shelter beginning in January 2023, according to a recent discussion between the Truesdale Board of Aldermen …

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Community building will serve as emergency warming shelter

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Truesdale’s MaryLou Community Building will serve as an emergency overnight warming shelter beginning in January 2023, according to a recent discussion between the Truesdale Board of Aldermen and local  nonprofit representatives.

Michelle Bernth, executive director of the nonprofit Agape organization in Warrenton, approached aldermen on Dec. 14 to ask for approval to use the community building as an overnight shelter on days with frigid temperatures. The MaryLou Community Building, located in Bruer Park, was constructed in 2021 to act as a tornado shelter and gathering place.

Bernth asked city leaders to extend the facility’s community safety mission to include overnight sheltering during the winter because there are very few facilities in Warren County that have the accessibility, willingness, and capacity to fulfill that role. She said the overnight shelter service would be run by trained volunteers from area churches, Agape, and other area nonprofits.

If approved, Bernth said the Truesdale facility would become part of an emergency weather response program run by churches and nonprofits in Warren, St. Charles, and Lincoln Counties, dedicated to saving homeless people from potentially deadly freezing weather.

“(Warren County) are the only ones who don’t have a resource like this for people who are out on the streets in the winter,” Bernth stated.

She explained that all of the warming shelters are operated using a strict set of procedures established by the committee of nonprofits. That includes registration of all guests, mandatory volunteer training, minimum staffing at every shelter, and restrictions on when guests are allowed into the building and when they have to leave in the morning.

Bernth added that all necessary supplies, including sleeping cots, curtains, and basic food would all be supplied by Agape and the Warren County Emergency Management Agency.

She also expressed regret that an agreement to use the facility wasn’t already in place in time for last week’s arctic blast that sent temperatures plummeting below zero degrees.

“We’re proposing that we start this in late January ... but in subsequent years, if allowed to continue, it would run November through March,” Bernth said.

Truesdale’s leaders expressed general approval for the winter shelter proposal, but expressed concerns primarily related to community safety. Aldermen confirmed that volunteers would welcome the presence of police officers, and said they would like to schedule the shelter departure time so that it doesn’t coincide with the time that children are walking to school in the morning.

One major sticking point was the question of how shelter guests would be transported to and from the community building. If they don’t have transportation to leave, aldermen fear they might try to camp at Bruer Park — a prospect the city isn’t willing to accept.

Bernth said that the nonprofit network which organizes winter shelters often provides funding for transportation, and that she would like to negotiate what that would look like in Warren County.

Truesdale’s four aldermen voted unanimously to proceed with an agreement  for use of the MaryLou Building as an emergency warming shelter, contingent on a fully developed transportation plan being presented as part of the agreement.

Truesdale Board of Aldermen, Agape, Warming shelter, MaryLou Community Building

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