Mayor Sarno and City Officials join Warming Partners to Announce New Emergency Overflow Shelter

Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, city, and state officials joined with local partners Tuesday morning at Wesley United Methodist Church to celebrate the opening of the new Warming Partners emergency overflow shelter in Springfield.

City officials, including Chief Development Officer (CDO) Tim Sheehan, Housing Director Geraldine McCafferty, and City Councilors Kateri Walsh and Tim Allen joined program sponsors Reverend Catharine Cummings of Wesley United Methodist Church, Joan Paris of Catholic Charities Agency, and Megan Moynihan of the United Way of Pioneer Valley for the announcement and opening celebration.

State Representative Bud Williams, State Senator Adam Gomez, Bishop Robert M. Jones, members of Trinity Health’s street outreach team, the city’s Project Hope 2.0 Manager Stephanie Tonelli, and Ed Van Zandt, retired Springfield Police Sergeant currently working with Catholic Charities also joined along with members of the Catholic Charities team.

Warming Partners is a new overflow emergency shelter at 741 State Street, Springfield, which will open on nights when the City’s Department of Health & Human Services, in consultation with the Mayor, declares a winter weather emergency. The shelter, which will operate in community space located at the Wesley United Methodist Church, will serve up to 25 individuals on nights when it is open. When the City announces a winter weather emergency, the shelter’s doors will open at 6 pm and guests will stay through 8 am the next morning.

Catholic Charities and the Wesley United Methodist Church have partnered to open the shelter with federal ARPA funding provided by the City through the Office of Housing. The United Way of Pioneer Valley is supporting the project by providing supplies for people using the shelter, including food, hygiene kits, and cold weather kits including hats, gloves, and hand warmers.

The partners are opening the shelter because Springfield’s existing shelters have been full this winter. The additional capacity will make room for homeless individuals to be inside on nights when the weather makes staying outdoors dangerous.

Mayor Sarno said: “This is a critical resource to keep people safe. I appreciate the work of our city team and community partners to provide this service and to get it open before our next cold spell.”

The Warming Partners overflow emergency shelter adds to other programs the City has put in place to keep homeless individuals safe during extreme weather. Cold weather emergency response measures are activated each year, including the Department of Health & Human Services’ Cold Weather Taskforce directed by Commissioner Helen Caulton Harris, which is charged with assuring the communication between City Departments, including fire, police and the shelters serving the homeless is as seamless as possible.

When a cold weather emergency is activated, the Department of Health & Human Services sends out an evening outreach response team, which looks for unsheltered individuals and offers to bring them to shelter. The team has also lined up hotel room placements for elderly or particularly vulnerable individuals. A cold weather emergency is activated when the temperature falls below 20 degrees or there is a severe winter storm.

The Department of Health & Human Services is also taking contributions of new blankets, hats, gloves, and scarves to help out unsheltered individuals and meet their basic need for warmth.  This initiative to collect blankets is derived from the efforts of the city’s Cold Weather Task Force and coincides with the warming facilities that are accessible and open around the city. Blanket Donations (clean, unused) can be dropped off at the locations below.  No appointments are necessary.