AUSTIN, Texas — The City of Austin activated cold weather shelters for Tuesday night, meaning people who typically live on the streets or in the woods can come inside for warmth.
Max Moscoe, who works at The Other Ones Foundation, said it partners up with Oak Hill United Methodist Church to offer people a safe place to sleep and have donated items ready to hand out.
Oak Hill United Methodist Church posted on Facebook saying it needs donations from the community:
- Gloves
- Sweatpants all sizes
- Sweatshirts all sizes
- Stocking caps
- Hand towels
- Bath towels
- Hygiene kits
- Socks
- Underwear for both men and women all sizes
- Headband
- Shoes all sizes
- Jackets all sizes
- Sweaters
- Pants all sizes
- Clothes
Moscoe said people will stay inside the church's fellowship hall.
"Tonight, all of these tables will be gone," said Moscoe, as he walked into a room full of tables. "We’ll have pop-up beds in here and we’ll sleep hopefully, almost guaranteed, 75 people."
Moscoe said that's a lot more people than The Other Ones Foundation usually has at their day-center, which doesn't allow for overnight stays.
"Our day-to-day work is we provide extremely low-barrier employment opportunities for people experiencing homelessness. The work is in service to the community," said Moscoe. "And we pair that with case management to help people get into stable housing and get a stable income."
However, Moscoe said Tuesday they will offer people laundry services and showers, in addition to a warm meal and clothes.
"I think that’s really one of the founding principles behind what we do every day is to offer people the opportunity to have a support network," said Moscoe. "When we describe our day shelter, a lot of times we just tell people that this is just a safe place where they can come be. And that sort of seems like not a very big deal to a lot of people, but to be able to just be in a place and not be harassed, potentially arrested, to not have to deal with the elements, I’m sure that that means a lot to folks."
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