When it feels like 20 below zero outside people are advised to stay inside, yet advocates who help the unhoused are braving the cold in Bloomington-Normal to help the roughly 130 people they estimate have no place inside to call home.
The vast majority have found shelter at warming centers or a friend’s, said Kim Massey of God’s Mission Ministry, but at least 15 were braving the frigid temperatures as of Tuesday afternoon. God’s Mission is a street outreach nonprofit that provides resources by meeting people where they are.
If people decline indoor opportunities provided by Bloomington homeless shelters and even the Bloomington Public Library, Massey said it’s her mission to “just provide them those essential items” to survive. Right now, she said a major need is propane tanks for heaters.
“They're going through about six propane tanks in a 24-hour period,” she said, adding that a six-pack of propane tanks would normally last someone several days.
‘A safety concern’
Because of the extreme cold, Massey said the nonprofit is also doing non-optional tent checks. That means if someone isn’t responding verbally from inside a tent at a homeless encampment, someone from the nonprofit will open the “door” and ensure that person is OK.
“Normally we do not go in the clients’ tents without their permission,” Massey said. “Their zipper is essentially their tent door, and we would not invade that space by any means unless it comes down to a safety concern.”
This cold snap, she added, is a serious concern.
“We had icicles on our eyelashes this morning,” Massey said of her and her husband while they were at the encampments.
Bobby Jovanovic does street outreach with Home Sweet Home Ministries [HSHM] homeless shelter of Bloomington. He stressed the importance of seeking out those who are most vulnerable.
“There's one encampment specifically, that's kind of off the beaten path, that's not accessible for most even the individuals residing there,” he explained. “They don't have access to things like other individuals would at other parts of the town. So we've really [made] it a point to be there and be present and provide supplies and things that they may need.”
That includes hand warmers, gloves, food and any other supplies they might want. Jovanovic said a recent donation of manual pump mattresses has come in handy for getting people’s bodies off the cold ground. Massey with God’s Mission said an organization recently gave $750 for propane tanks, which is pivotal since her group is the only one in town able to deliver propane to people.
HSHM street outreach specialist Lauren Wiggins said she and Jovanovic are also doing more regular encampment check-ins. Instead of going to one per day, Wiggins said she and her team are going to multiple locations at a time.
“We have a few people in mind that we are really trying to get into some sort of shelter, whether that is Home Sweet Home, Salvation Army, or even just taking people to like a library or Walmart, just anywhere, to piece together services to get people out of the cold,” she said.
Places to go
Since October, the Salvation Army of Bloomington has offered warming options for residents and nonresidents of its Safe Harbor homeless shelter. One option is the Safety Net, where people can seek hydration and warmth between 10 p.m. and 5:30 a.m. Wiggins said many took advantage of that space Tuesday.
“That's kind of our first line of defense for people who are needing shelter, where they regularly sleep outside,” she said.
HSHM is also an option on days including Tuesday, Wiggins said, when temperatures are 10 degrees or below. The Mission — Home Sweet Home’s homeless shelter — opens its resident lounges to non-residents. She added the Junction community center is also popular and opens an hour early to accommodate people.
Home Sweet Home CEO Matt Burgess said the community center is busier than ever.
“We're seeing record numbers of people coming into the Junction and staying pretty much all day because they don't have someplace else to go,” he said.
For people who want to help but don’t know how, Burgess said monetary donations to help HSHM and other organizations get supplies and people can also give their time. HSHM, God’s Mission Ministry and the Salvation Army also often post on Facebook when seeking certain goods.
Burgess added that while cold snaps such as this one tend to highlight unhoused populations, the need for shelter — and permanent supportive housing — persists beyond the winter months.
“We have to remember that none of what we are doing right now actually brings somebody inside permanently,” he said. “That's why we continue to lead the charge in trying to develop additional shelter capacity in the community so that the next cold snap that we have… we're not in this desperate situation.”
