ST. LOUIS – The City of St. Louis opened additional warming centers Wednesday amid the continued Arctic blast. Just a few days after Sunday’s snowfall, city leaders said there is still a demand for warm beds.
“Oh, it means a lot. Without it, I don’t know where we would be. St. Louis has got the places, but it is like from jumping shelter to shelter lately,” Kenneth Gurney said.
Gurney spent Wednesday at the Gamble Rec Center, warming up and drying off from the wet snow. Gurney wasn’t the only one at the warming center.
“Some of them come and go. Some people are picked up by family members. Some people come there and leave to go to work,” Adam Pearson, Director of St. Louis City Department of Human Services, said. “Either way, it is good that there is some capacity to have people in a day warming center.”
Pearson said they’re seeing a wide range of people looking to get out of the cold.
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“We work with people who are senior citizens, people who are unhoused. These are populations that are disproportionately impacted by the inclement weather,” he said.
The city’s 13 library locations are back open for anyone looking to get out of the dangerous cold weather. He said they’re seeing more people over at the Gamble Rec Center.
“We have had around 30 to 40 people show up. Most of them are coming from the pop-up shelter across the street,” Pearson said.
He said the most important thing is keeping the warming centers open for anyone in need.
“It means the world,” Gurney said. “It really does, cause life is important to me.”
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