Warming shelter to open extra night

ROSEBURG, Ore. – The Roseburg Warming Center will be open an extra night this week, offering overnight shelter to unhoused people through Saturday, Dec. 17, then seeking wash day volunteers on Sunday.

The warming center, located in the Roseburg Senior Center, 1614 SE Stephens St., will be open Friday, Dec. 16, and Saturday, Dec. 17, then close for the foreseeable future. Check-in begins at 6 p.m. with 60 cots available for guests and volunteers. Unhoused individuals can arrive any time during the night, said warming center operator Kimetha Stallings.

Volunteers are being sought to help clean warming center laundry starting at noon Sunday, Dec. 18, at the Senior Center. Volunteers will begin by carrying bedding laundry from the senior center to pickup trucks, transporting the laundry to a laundromat, sorting loads and loading washing machines. Volunteers also will help move bedding into dryers and then fold, bag and transport clean laundry back to the center, where bedding will be put in storage.

Stallings thanked senior center members as well as 25 people who volunteered so the shelter could be open this week.

“These dedicated and compassionate people have sacrificed to serve some of our most vulnerable community members,” said Stallings, founder of Onward Roseburg. “I'd also like to thank the senior center members for sharing their space with us. Having visitors can be difficult. I hope that we have been good guests.”

Friday and Saturday, the senior center will provide a free shuttle to make one circuit around town to pick up guests between about 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. and then drive people back in the morning. A cot, blanket and pillow plus a hot dinner and breakfast are provided to anyone staying the night. Guests can stay until 8 a.m. each morning.

Local residents who are interested in volunteering can text Stallings at 541-236-2089 or comment on the Facebook post about the opening at https://www.facebook.com/Warming.Center.Onward.

Donations that can be used include jackets, gloves, sleeping bags and hand warmers. The City may help pay for operating costs if needed. In addition, the Roseburg Rescue Mission offers overnight shelter at 752 SE Pine St. all year.

The City’s Severe Event Shelter Policy, Resolution No. 2020-22, provides operational standards for organizations seeking City approval to open a temporary emergency shelter in buildings not designated as residential occupancy. Those operational standards include allowing a warming shelter to open during severe weather:

• on nights when the low temperatures are predicted to be 30 degrees Fahrenheit or less;

• or when low temperatures are forecasted to be 32 degrees Fahrenheit or less with additional factors that could increase a person’s risk of exposure to cold such as precipitation, wind, fog and sustained low temperatures.