Warming shelters are opening its doors this weekend as temperatures drop below freezing

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ.)

Warming shelters in both Jefferson City and Columbia are opening their doors to the community this weekend as temperatures will drop around 19 degrees overnight.

According to a press release written by the City of Columbia, on the evening over the next three days, the city will open a temporary overnight warming shelter at Wabash Bus Station, (126 N. 10th Street) from 7 p.m. until 6 a.m.

The warming shelter is available to anyone unable or unwilling to access local emergency shelter services. The current threshold for the shelter has been raised from 15-25 degrees.

The City plans to implement some new changes to the way they conduct the Wabash Warming Center, starting Feb. 16.

Changes to Wabash Warming Center

• Wabash will open during the daytime as warming center Monday through Saturday from noon to 5 p.m.
• The City will contract with a provate security to staff the warming center during the day and overnight

Sydney Olsen who works for the City of Columbia says the department wants to stop pulling officers from their regular shift to come to secure the warming shelter, which is why they decided to start a new system for security.

"Because the police department is so understaffed right now, and that's why we're moving to utilize a private security company so that we can use their staffing and make sure that our officers remain on patrol," Olsen said.

In response to public concerns about resources made available to the unsheltered the city also made changes to its hours.

"We really want to provide resources for those individuals who are unable to or possibly unwilling to go to an official shelter. And so after providing that feedback and with the direction from the council we wanted to act as quickly as we could to utilize the temperature change to 25 degrees," said Olsen.

Columbia has several warming shelters Missourians can choose from, below is a list of the following shelters.

Columbia Warming Centers

• ARC (Activity and Recreation Center), 1701 W. Ash St.
• Boone County Government Center, 801 E. Walnut St.
• Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services, 1005 W. Worley St.
• Columbia Public Library, 100 W. Broadway
• Salvation Army, 1108 W. Ash St.
• Salvation Army Harbor House, 602 N. Ann St.
• St. Francis House, 901 Range Line St.

Providers contracted by the City to Provide Shelters

• Room at the Inn, visit roomattheinncomo.org for dates and locations
• Salvation Army Harbor House (men, women and families), 602 N. Ann St.
• True North (for domestic violence), please call 573.875.1370
• Turning Point (day shelter 7 a.m. - noon, M - F), 702 Wilkes Blvd.

Additional Emergency Shelters in Columbia:

• Welcome Home (for veterans), 2120 Business Loop 70 E.
• St. Francis House (for men), 901 Range Line St. - must be vaccinated to stay overnight
• Rainbow House (for children/youth), 1611 Towne Dr.
• Flourish (for youth), please call 573.615.6135

The Room at the End in Jefferson City also plans to reopen on Sunday after the shelter closed due to a drop in volunteers.

"Our community of volunteers has rallied this week, though, and we will reopen on Sun, Feb 13. With enough volunteer support, we hope to remain open thru the rest of this month," Jefferson City Room at the End sent in a Facebook response today.

Room at the Inn hopes to bring in more volunteers by advertising the need on different social media platforms.

"Getting that information spread is so important because you know every day a couple more trickle in, a couple more people sign up and say oh hey I didn't even know you were doing this, this is great I really want to help. So we believe the help is out there," said Mariah Luebbering spokesperson for Room at the Inn.