GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The cold temperatures pose a danger to the homeless population in Northeast Wisconsin.
And since the pandemic, the need has been growing.
“Don’t leave them out there. It’s too cold. It’s too cold in this city,” said Ruby McCullough.
McCullough utilized St. John’s Homeless Shelter in Green Bay just last year.
She says she knows firsthand that you need a safe space during the bitter cold.
“This kind of weather, you lose limbs. But 5 below zero. Them some cold temperatures.”
Director of Community management at St John’s, Scott Schauer, says the number of guests at the night to night emergency shelter fluctuates, but the cold weather always brings people in.
“We are assisting over 130 people in our community, plus individuals that don’t have a place to go. We are a last resort for them before they hit the street and have to go outside.”
Schauer says the more people that stay at the shelter overnight, the more can head to a space like the Micah Center to seek long-term help.
St. John’s and the Micah Center are a half mile apart, but the shelter will assist people with transportation.
“We need guests to be at our daytime resource centers with a forward moving process, working on applications,” said Schauer.
Weather is a big factor on how shelters set up their days, whether it’s extreme heat or extreme cold, the homeless need a place to stay.
In Oshkosh, executive director of Day By Day Warming Shelter, Molly Yatso Butz, says they do their best at creating a safe space.
“We kind of serve as that emergency room for those in crisis in our community.”
But lack of space at the shelter means Day By Day has to turn some away.
“Unfortunately we’ve been seeing a lot of turn away this season, just shy of 300.”
But the city of Oshkosh has approved land acquisition for Day By Day.
In the coming years, they will have a shelter open 365 days a year to house more of the homeless community in Winnebago County.
