Detroit Heals Detroit needs volunteers for its emergency warming center
(CBS DETROIT) - It initially opened to help the youth within the community, but now Detroit Heals Detroit's healing hub is serving as an emergency warming center on the city's east side.
"It is freezing. I can't imagine having to stay outside all night long in the cold," says executive director Sirrita Darby.
The mission of the nonprofit when it opened in the summer of 2023 was to transform pain into power.
"The idea was a community center. We were supposed to be impacting you until 19 years old, but I was like, we are impacting the elders and the younger kids too," Darby says.
However, this week, Anne Head, who is directing the Healing Hub's makeshift warming center, says their goal is to make sure every Detroiter can stay warm, too.
"At the moment, we just need our community to know that we are open for them to come in and have some refreshments, to use our computers, to come stay warm because it really is cold. It's so cold that schools are closed to tomorrow," Head says.
It is for that reason that both Darby and Head say turning the healing hub into an emergency warming center was a choice they had to make. However, in order to stay open all week, the Healing Hub says it is going to need more volunteers.
"We are hoping to get more volunteers to help with our overnights because we want to stay open all week," Darby says.
Guests inside the center will have access to refreshments, a literacy room, arts and crafts, beds, and a well-heated home. Darby says that even though there is limited capacity, it's enough to make sure no one is left behind.
"We are here all week overnight literally all day making sure our people stay warm. We're actually excited for it because we'd rather you be here in this community space that's for all us than out there in the cold," Darby says.
To learn more about Detroit Heals Detroit or to sign up to be a volunteer, click here or call 313-721-0717.