With a severe drop in temperatures arriving this weekend, First United Methodist Church St. Cloud will open on Friday evening as a cold weather shelter for the homeless, the county's joint information team announced Wednesday.
Following established community protocols for when temperatures are predicted to fall below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, First United Methodist Church St. Cloud (1000 Ohio Avenue, St. Cloud) will open its doors at 6 p.m. and provide a nighttime refuge, officials said. On Christmas Eve the shelter will open at 8:30 p.m.
The City of St. Cloud announced, less than three hours after asking for volunteers to open on Christmas Day, the shifts have been filled and the shelter will also open on Sunday.
Those needing transportation to the shelter location can travel at no cost using LYNX buses by alerting drivers that they will be going to the cold weather shelter.
Faith-based groups and other non-profits were also reaching out in areas where the homeless are known to congregate to alert them of shelter availability – and to help coordinate logistics. A number of people being pre-registered will be directed to a local hotel.
Osceola’s cold weather shelter collaboration program is coordinated by the Osceola County Office of Emergency Management with participation from the cities of Kissimmee and St. Cloud, as well as the Hope Partnership, the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida, LYNX, the Osceola Council on Aging, the Salvation Army, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office and other members of the faith-based/non-profit community.
