Nov 6, 2016 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – With snow and cold temperatures approaching, Greene County’s homeless will have a place to go for warmth and shelter thanks to an expanding initiative Barb Wise began organizing last winter.

Wise is the director of Greene County United Way, but her “warm nights” initiative is not a United Way program. She organized it last year to offer a warm night’s sleep to the county’s homeless population.

“I was shocked to hear that there are people sleeping under bridges and in their cars in the Walmart parking lot,” she said.

Wise said people using the warming center don’t have to be homeless.

“Last year, we had several clients with all different stories,” she said. “It can be a temporary thing too. We’re all helping each other.”

That first year, Wise partnered with several community churches that opened up their doors to host a night for people in January and February when the temperature dropped below 25 degrees.

This year, they will have their own building dedicated as a warming center from December through March. The building, which can sleep 10, is a house-like structure near the stables on the Greene County Fairgrounds.

Greene County Commissioner Blair Zimmerman, who permitted the building be used for Wise’s initiative, said the building was “being used very little” and that it would be no additional cost to the county.

“We just thought it was a good location,” he said. “We do have a need and it fit the bill for that.”

Zimmerman said that he’s seen people sleeping under county bridges and one time witnessed a family sleeping in tents in a wooded area of the county.

“The need isn’t like what you’d see in a big city like New York or Washington D.C. with people on the sidewalks,” he said. “Even though it’s not slapping us in the face, it’s here and anything we can do to help is a good thing.”

Wise said the house needed some work and furnishings. Waynesburg University students volunteered to paint the walls and Contour Energy donated a couch, kitchen table and chairs, a coffee table, end tables and a refrigerator to the warming center.

Wise said last week that she moved in some of the supplies, such as blankets, pillows and cots, which were donated last year.

The process begins, she said, with someone calling the Southwestern Pennsylvania Human Services Crisis Hotline to register to use the center and get transportation if needed. Messages will then go out to a list of volunteers on call for that month.

Clients must register by 4 p.m. each day and the shelter will be open to them from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. The center will only be open when it’s below 25 degrees and people have pre-registered, but it does not take walk-ins. People will be able to bring their service dogs and the Humane Society is partnering in the initiative to house other pets.

Wise said she’s still looking for volunteers, with a clear background check, to train this year. Each cold night that the warming station is open, there needs to be two volunteers to stay with clients, she said.

“We had 20 volunteers last time and it worked out well,” she said.

Volunteer training sessions will be held at 7 p.m. Nov. 15 and at noon Nov. 17. People can register for the training by calling Wise at her office, 724-852-5276 or the Greene County Human Services at 724-852-5276.