Lindsey Harrelson the new executive director and Cansas Christiansen a site manager for the William A. Burnard Warming Center stand at the door of the facility on Tuesday November 28, 2023.
LOGAN — The Utah Department of Health and Human Services warned Cache County and 13 other county officials there is a Code Blue status starting Sunday due to extreme cold.
A Code Blue indicates resource centers and other spaces for the homeless populations are required to expand their capacity up to 35 percent when the National Weather Service predicts temperatures to fall to 15 degrees Fahrenheit or below, including wind chill.
The William A. Burnard Warming Center is set to open the facility on December 4, for the local homeless population to stay warm and spend the night. The entrance of the warming center is on the east entrance of St. John’s Episcopal Church located at 85 E. 100 N. Logan.
The new Executive Director Lindsey Harrelson of the William A. Burnard Warming Center has had 20 years’ experience in public education. She was a teacher, principal, and adult educator. She said everyone needs a second, third, fourth or as many chances to get their life in order.
“We are dealing with the most vulnerable population, and they need our help,” she said. “I am grateful to have this position and am ready to do what I can to help.”
She emphasized the need for more volunteers.
“We can’t do it without volunteers,” Harrelson said. “We rely on them to make this program successful.”
Cansas Christiansen, a case manager, was a volunteer last year and had a great insight on the value of the program.
“Because they are not opening until next Monday, the people at the Dan Gvllenskog Veterans Resource Foundation have agreed to open their facility to be used as an emergency warming shelter,” Christiansen said. “That is until December 4, when our warming center opens.”
The Dan Gvllenskog Veterans Resource Foundation has renamed their building the Rocky Mountain Veterans Resource Center. It is located at 1760 N. 200 E. Logan.
Christiansen said they were passing out fliers to get the word out.
“The Warming Center will be open seven days a week from 7 p.m. until 8 a.m.,” she said. “We have 25 cots, and the maximum capacity is 42 based on the fire code posted on the building.”
Christiansen said when the cots are full the remainder of the people sleep on the floor. Last year they gave over 200 people a warm place to stay during the winter and they were all from the valley.
“We had families with children, some had dogs and cats,” she said. “When families become homeless, they don’t want to leave their pets behind.”
Some of the people had just been released from jail and had nowhere to go and some had full time jobs but couldn’t afford rent, Christiansen added.
“There were people who came in drunk, some were suffering from mental illness and some people were evicted from their apartment,” she said. “We saw all the different scenarios and now we are seeing a lot come from the canyons. They camp and live up in there and when it gets too cold for them we are seeing them on the street.”
There is a need there. Some people don’t have housing, then when they get to the warming center it becomes a place of hope.
“The warming center was a place of caring. We can’t solve all problems but when someone smiles and gives you food and shares a puzzle or just be there for some basic human contact it gives them hope.”
The center is not only a place for human contact, for some it is a home where they can reset and dig themselves out of their problems and issues. They just need someone to see them.
The warming center is not the same thing as a homeless shelter. Homeless shelters provide services 24 hours and they provide wrap around services like case workers and meals.
The warming center is an emergency crisis response to save lives for the most vulnerable members of the community.
For more information or to become a volunteer go to wabwarmingcenter.org.