Call for helpers, as cold spell activates Bloomington emergency shelter on Thanksgiving night
With forecasted overnight low temperatures on Thanksgiving Day dropping to 24 F degrees, Bloomington’s severe winter weather shelter will activate starting Thursday night (Nov. 28).
The Bloomington Severe Winter Emergency Shelter (B-SWERS) will deploy at two downtown Bloomington churches—on Thursday night at First Christian Church, and on Friday night at First United Methodist Church (FUMC).
The shelter opens for the night at 7 p.m.
First Christian is located on the northeast corner of Kirkwood Avenue and Washington Street. FUMC is the next block south on 4th Street.
B-SWERS provide additional warm, safe places to sleep, which helps lighten the load on local year-round shelters, and provides an alternative for people who just don’t want to seek refuge at established, year-round shelters.
Reached by phone, B-SWERS steering committee member Sharon Baker described the accommodations in the emergency shelter as “nothing fancy.” She described it as “basically a mat on the floor with clean sheets and pillows and blankets and hot coffee.”
Baker told the B Square that the emergency shelter prioritizes spots for women and their partners.
Giving priority to women addresses a definite need, because there are few empty beds for women at established shelters. According to Beacon executive director Forrest Gilmore, the 28 shelter beds for women at the nonprofit’s Friend’s Place shelter are consistently full.
Wheeler Mission’s shelter is for men only.
Gilmore told The B Square that there are currently a “substantial” number of people living outside, and estimates that about one-third of them are women.
According to Baker, the hope is that enough volunteers will step forward so that the emergency shelter can stay open through Saturday, Sunday, and the rest of the extra-cold spell that is supposed to hit the area for a week or more.
B-SWERS is looking for volunteers to help staff the shelter—that includes setting up the sites, checking-in volunteers, supervising the shelter overnight, and cleaning up the next day.
A clarion call for volunteers to help staff the shelter has been made via social media channels. The email address for inquiries is btownsevereshelter@gmail.com An online webform has also been set up for potential volunteers: B-SWERS volunteer form
B-SWERS opens when overnight temperatures are 25 F degrees or below, or if there are 3 inches or more snow predicted.
B-SWERS was formed early 2024, Baker said, when Bloomington mayor Kerry Thompson called community faith leaders together and asked: What can we do for emergency shelter situations?
The emergency shelter was activated a couple of times in early 2024, Baker said. At this point, she said, “Everything is down to a science.” Some of the volunteers are trained in de-escalation, use of Naloxone, and defibrillators, Baker said.
B-SWERS is based off guidelines and concepts from Bloomington’s former Interfaith Shelter, but does not refer to “faith” in its name.
Baker told the B Square that the emergency shelter is open to anyone—it just happens to be housed at two churches.
Even though the focus for B-SWERS is to give people a warm place to spend one night, there’s clear lines of communication with year-round shelter providers, like Wheeler Mission and Beacon’s Friend’s Place.
Dana Jones, director of community engagement and services at Wheeler Mission, told The B Square that he works with Baker as well as Sarah Lynne Gershon, pastor at First United Methodist associate minister at First Christian, in connection with B-SWERS.
Jones said that while the emergency shelter can keep people warm for the night, it has no case management resources who might eventually help people move into housing—to move them from crisis to stability.
At Wheeler’s shelter, for example, HealthNet and Centerstone hold clinics on site. That means people staying at the shelter have access to medical, mental health and addiction services.
Asked about Wheeler’s capacity, Jones said the shelter has 80 beds, with space for another 24 floor mats. “We’re grateful that we’re not having to do that, yet,” Jones said. Still, Jones said, the shelter has seen a lot more people seeking shelter since Nov. 1: “I think we’re up probably 25 people since then.”
Jones said the approaching colder weather means that Wheeler’s one street outreach worker has been visiting encampments to remind people living there that there is a warm, safe space for them at Wheeler.
Jones said in cases where someone’s behavior has in the past earned them a prohibition against staying at Wheeler, during periods of extremely cold weather, that prohibition can be waived.
