Bitter cold grips Fox Cities as warming shelters open doors to help unhoused neighbors
With temperatures plummeting to single digits and feeling below zero, local warming shelters are opening their doors to provide life-saving refuge for unhoused community members.
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"Bitterly cold, unsafe for people, and if people are unhoused they can't be out in this weather for more than a few minutes without suffering from frostbite or something worse," said Jim Morgenstern, a volunteer at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Neenah.
It's a recent addition to warming shelters available in the area.
Fox Cities:
- 1928 W. College Ave., Appleton
- Open daily from 4:30 p.m. to 8 a.m.
- (920) 734-9192
Pillars Adult & Family Shelter
- 400 N. Division St., Appleton
- Open 24 hours year round
- (920) 734-9192
- 130 E. North St., Appleton
- Will open as a daytime warming center when temperatures drop below zero
- (920) 734-3324
The Salvation Army Fox Cities is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays and there is a wait list for Pillars' overnight shelter, 20 days for men and 3 days for women.
St. Paul Lutheran Church in Neenah recently started a daytime warming shelter, operating from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on days when temperature highs reach single digits. Inside, people can warm up with coffee or snacks and use WiFi.
"We want to just welcome our neighbors. You don't have to be a Lutheran, you don't have to have any religious affiliation, you don't have to be anything. We don't ask any questions when people come," Morgenstern said.
However, all three organizations face the same challenge: they need more volunteers to keep shelters open during the coldest days and nights this season.
"We do want more volunteers, the bigger our bench, the more we can be open," Morgenstern said.
Besides shelters, Winnebago County says the Menasha, Neenah, Omro, Oshkosh and Winneconne Public Libraries are all open during the day to give people a place to be indoors.
Here's their full list of warming locations.
And NBC26's full list of warming locations in Northeast Wisconsin.
