Severe Weather Shelter Network focuses not only on shelter, but sense of community
With temperatures dropping and snow piling up, getting inside shouldn't be a luxury. For Stevie, it is.
"I woke up wet, cold, I had a tarp on me, a sleeping bag and I froze really bad," he said.
He's unhoused and asked that we not use his last name.
"When you lay down on that frozen ground, it's cold," he said.
His story is like so many others being housed overnight by the Severe Weather Shelter Network.
"Last night I slept outside the Lakewood library. This is a big improvement over getting snowed on," Randy Chase said as he dried his boots on a nearby fan.
The space is provided by churches willing to open their doors in life-threatening weather conditions and is run by volunteers.
"Both Jeffco and the west end of Arapahoe County don't have any brick-and-mortar shelters," LynnAnn Huizingh said.
Huizing is the Director of the Severe Weather Shelter Network. She says not only do they offer a place to stay overnight, but they also offer a sense of community built over a hot meal.
"We get to know about them. That's what dinner does, when you sit down at dinner with friends you get to know things about them," she said.
That gesture is almost as important as the stay itself.
"It makes you human, makes you feel human," Stevie said.
Without the help of the Severe Weather Shelter Network, he's not sure what would happen.
"I don't know, I probably would have froze to death," he said.