MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. -- Cold weather across our area has homeless people filing into cold weather shelters, seeking a safe, warm place to stay.
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In Martin County, volunteers are helping make sure the homeless community has a way to get to one of two shelters in the area, when transportation isn’t readily available to them.
At the Gertrude Walden Child Care Center in Stuart, nearly two dozen people signed up to stay Wednesday night.
Nearly half of them got there from volunteers at the Love and Hope in Action (LAHIA) non-profit organization, who drove their own cars to drop people off at the shelter.
“As it gets later, it’s gong to get colder,” said Director of Client Relations, Chris Taylor. She drove people, too. “Action is so much more important than words.”
Danny Daley among the people looking for one thing: “The heat!”
It’s something precious to him this week. “I was out there last night in the rain,” he explained.
He wasn’t taking chances Wednesday night.
“Some of them don’t even have tents,” Taylor said.
She knows first hand how bitter that cold can be.
“I was homeless before … and the heater in your car can only get so warm in the vehicle. Then you’re starting to sweat and choking and it’s back and forth."
She hopes more people will take the help she and others are offering, with cold temperatures continuing.
“I sleep better knowing that they took our advice.”
The American Red Cross is opening the following shelters through Friday:
• Indiantown Boys & Girls Club (7p.m. – 7a.m. Wed , Thurs & Fri)
• 17375 Palm Beach, Indiantown, FL 34956
• Gertrude Walden Daycare Center (7 p.m. – 7 a.m. Wed, Thurs & Fri)
